Theater Department Presents Kate Hamill’s Adaption of “Sense and Sensibility”
By Katie Larsen
Southern Virginia University’s theater production of Sense and Sensibility opened Valentine’s Day weekend on Friday, Feb. 14. It was performed two weekends and was sold out each night according to its director, Professor Robert Stoddard.
Professor Stoddard chose Kate Hamill’s playful adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” which features a cast of just 12 people. This small cast meant that actors played multiple characters, often switching roles within a single scenes.
“I thought it would be a really good way of introducing people to Jane Austen, because the scene changes are really lively and every time it’s getting too serious, someone will play a different part,” said Stoddard. “It keeps the play moving and interesting.”
To quickly change roles during the scenes, the actors interchanged various props and Stoddard reported that nearly 100 prop moves occurred throughout the production.
In the lead roles, freshman Gracious Pack played the part of Marianne Dashwood and Assistant Professor of Theatre Amaree Cluff played Elinor Dashwood. Cluff has worked as a professional actor since 2007 and began teaching at Southern Virginia in 2015. Stoddard explained that it is a common practice in universities to have a professor play a part in theatre productions occasionally.
“Every three or four years, both Professor Cluff and I perform,” Stoddard explained, “I thought [including Professor Cluff] would be better in this play, because it’s not an extremely showy part, and I knew that it would be difficult for the students to get the style of it. I thought having somebody in there who did understand and could act would help [the students].”
Although casting was small, there were at least 30 students helping with backstage work.
“I wondered if it would be successful at all, because Jane Austen isn’t for everyone,” Stoddard said. “However, we considered it a successful show.”
