Wichita Shakespeare actors deal with challenge of acting outdoors
One of the newest cast members of Wichita Shakespeare Company is learning the challenges of performing outdoors.
“It’s very challenging, compared to doing it in just a normal auditorium or theater space,” said Seth Rogers, who plays one of the twins in “The Comedy of Errors,” which opens its first trio of performances this weekend. “You have to worry about all of the distractions around you – animals and the wind and everything. I’m a very distractable person, so that’s a challenge.”
Rogers said actors are taught quickly to make their movements and expressions big and to project their voices far more than in an indoor setting.
“Even if there’s no cars or trains or anything, there’s always white noise going on,” he said.
Wichita Shakespeare Company, whose current incarnation began in 1999, takes the Bard to parks in Wichita, Andover, Derby and Park City before a finale performance at University Friends Church at the end of the month.
WSC newcomer Jeremy Buoy is the director, and has first-time cast members including Gabrielle Matthews, who thought she was done with acting after high school.
“I just wanted to get back to it,” she said. “Thankfully Jeremy saw something and allowed me to get back into it. I’ve loved every second of it.”
Dan Schuster, a WSC veteran and board member, said Buoy submitted “Comedy of Errors” as the show he wanted to direct, and was chosen by the board.
“It’s a comedy, it’s a lot of fun, and it’s pretty easy to understand,” said Schuster, who is also in the cast.
“Comedy of Errors” is “a pretty short play as Shakespeare goes,” Schuster said, and the “slightly abridged” version lasts about 90 minutes.
The costumes are comparatively modern day, he said, and the play has moved its setting from the country of Ephesus to the town of Ephesus, Georgia – Buoy researched and found it – and the characters from there will speak in southern accents.
Although COVID forced WSC to try a “Virtual Shakespeare” format online in 2020 and only one of the two scheduled plays in 2021, Schuster said the goal is to get back to a two-play season with another performance this fall.
“The Scottish play” – superstitious thespian shorthand for “MacBeth” – is scheduled for September, he said.
Performances begin at 7 p.m. and are free.
The schedule:
June 10, College Hill Park, Wichita
June 11, Buffalo Park, Wichita
June 12, Andover Central Park
June 17: College Hill Park, Wichita
June 18: High Park Amphitheater, Derby
June 19, College Hill Park, Wichita
June 24, Central Riverside Park, Wichita
June 25, Hap McLean Park, Park City
June 26, University Friends Church, Wichita