Liberal Arts Voices

Read the perspectives of our current students

“Kiss Me, Kate”: Special Paterno Fellows Event November 9

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“Kiss Me, Kate” is a musical comedy loosely inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.  The performances at Penn State will feature the students in PSU’s renowned musical theater program.  And one of the on-campus performances–scheduled for 7:30 pm on November 9–has been particularly arranged to appeal to Paterno Fellows.  Come!

The show, set in Baltimore and not England, is one of the most popular ones to ever appear on Broadway. It has had over 1000 performances in New York, and its 1999 revival won several Tony Awards.  Here’s how it’s described by the Penn State theater program:  “Cole Porter’s wit meets Shakespeare’s humor in one of American Theater’s most beloved musical comedies.  Kiss Me Kate is the raucous and romantic backstage story of a musical that goes out of town in 1948.  It’s “Too Darn Hot’ in Baltimore where formerly married actors Fred and Lilli are cast opposite each other in a musical version of ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’  The sparks fly onstage and off using a classic score which includes ‘So in Love,’ ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show,’ ‘From This Moment On,’ and ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare.'”

One of the special appeals for Paterno Fellows is the price–just $5.  (Paterno Fellows and aspirants can purchase a ticket for themselves and for one guest.)  Another of the appeals is a post-show “cast party” that will give Paterno Fellows a chance to meet the student-performers after the show, right in the lobby of the Playhouse Theater, over some nice food and drink. (Those who take advantage of this offer are expected to attend the cast party.)  So that we will know how much food to order, you must reserve your ticket (and the ticket of any guest) ahead of time–write to Jack Selzer at jls25@psu.edu.

Finally, the Director of the show (Travis DeCastro) is making it possible for students who wish–this part is completely optional–to get a preview of the show at 5:30 pm.  If you’d like, you can hear him give an overview of Cole Porter’s career (“Kiss Me, Kate” saved his career), and you’ll be invited backstage to hear about the sets, the costumes, and the special challenges presented by the production.

Attending “The Beaux’ Stratagem”

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Friday night, a full audience arrived at the Theatre Building for a performance of 18th-century play, “The Beaux’ Stratagem.”  But only a fraction of the audience arrived early for a special event–dinner and a talk with acclaimed Theatre professor Robert Hume and renowned English director Di Trevis. 

I was part of that fraction. My name’s Noelle, and I’m a freshman majoring in French. This is my first blog post for Paterno Fellows Program blog, so hello! As a freshman who’s hardly used to attending academic events, let alone dinners with distinguished professors, the idea of the program being stiff and formal worried me, to say the least. But when I entered the event room, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really was just an informal chat, meant to give us some extra information before watching the play. Dr. Hume spoke from a scholar’s point of view. He highlighted the key literary themes of the play, and also provided a historical context–apparently, writer George Farquhar was on his deathbed when he wrote the piece, which seems odd for such an apparently light-hearted play. 

Note that I said apparently light-hearted. Director Di Trevis pointed out that even though “Beaux’ Stratagem” often comes across as a silly romp, there are several dark themes beneath the surface. For example, “divorce” is a theme that almost never comes to mind when thinking about 18th-century England. But according to Trevis, Farquhar was really an advocate of the right to divorce, and used the terrible marriage among two characters in his play to point this out. There’s also an underlying theme concerning the mistreatment of women, and the unfairness of not being allowed to provide for themselves in society. These are all themes that I would never have picked up on by just watching the play, and I appreciated being able to view the play through the lens of this knowledge. 
Now here comes the important part– why do you care? Why does it matter that I saw a play, went to a dinner, and kind of liked it? First, I’ve never been a huge fan of plays, probably because I’ve always considered them a little too high-brow a form of entertainment. I’m more likely to kick back with a recent romantic comedy, and I imagine many of you are the same way. But here’s the thing — “Beaux’ Stratagem” is a romantic comedy. And even if our society today views theatre as a more elitist pastime, this sort of thing was pop culture in the 18th-century. In a world without movies, TV, iPods, etc. — theatre was the creme de la creme of popular entertainment, and as someone who loves pop culture today, I can certainly appreciate this. 
Attending the “Beaux’ Stratagem” not only enlightened me as to the complexity of theatre (as discussed in the pre-show talk), but it also led me to reconsider my preconceptions. And whether or not you’re a fan of attending academic events, I encourage you to try it– at least just once. Honestly, there’s more similarities between an 18th-century play and How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days than you might think. 
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