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Michaela Fitzsimmons

A scene from Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. Photo by Julianne Mosher

By Julianne Mosher 

It’s time to shake up Shakespeare.

Suffolk County Community College’s latest production of Shakespeare’s Lovers & Fighters is a great approach to the famous playwright and his stories since it’s a compilation of some of his most famous scenes from several different plays. 

Serving as an anthology of Shakespeare’s As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and Hamlet director Steven Lantz-Gefroh said this was a way to bring a little bit of Shakespeare and highlight both the lovers and the fighters.

What’s great for this hour-and-a-half long show, with a 10-minute intermission, is that the audience gets snippets of some of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays without having to sit through them in their entirety. Narrated by William, himself, in between the different scenes, the show is a way to either adore some of your favorite Shakespearean tragedies, comedies and histories or immerse yourself into a piece of his work that you might not know of already.

Set on a brilliantly crafted stage that hosts a balcony, stairs and minimal props, the actors are able to adapt quickly and efficiently in between the different stories; some that take place in France (As You Like It), Scotland (Macbeth), Athens (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Denmark (Hamlet), and Italy (The Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet).

We start off with scene 3.2 from As You Like It where Rosalind and her cousin, Celia, are met with Rosalind’s love interest, Orlando. Dressed in drag, Rosalind fools Orlando into believing she is a love expert. 

We head south to Italy for scene 2.1 of The Taming of the Shrew where we meet Katherine, an angsty, angry shrew of a woman who is being courted by Petruchio after he makes a deal with her father, Baptista. Katherine wants none of this, but could there be chemistry between the two if she tried?

While in Italy, we’re outside Juliet Capulet’s balcony for that famous scene. Enough said.

Up in Scotland, we meet Macbeth who fights Macduff in an intense scene of combat. The artistry behind the fight is stunning and impressive to the audience sitting at the edges of their seats.

Thereafter we’re back in France at Henry V’s court where we see him seduce Catherine of France as part of a plan to end the Hundred Years’ War and place King Henry on the French throne.

Back in Verona, we are in the public square where the Capulets and Montagues fight it out after the two groups have words — which stems from generations of feuding between the two families. As before, the swordsmanship is a dance on the stage that is carefully crafted with every move. Impressive, again, to say the least.

We also are privileged to see scene 4.1 from As You Like It, 3.4 from Twelfth Night, 5.1 from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and 3.1 from Hamlet during act two. 

The show concludes with the entire cast on stage separated into the English and French for an epic battle scene between the two groups from scenes 4.3-7 from Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt. All in all, the show has something for everyone — whether you liked reading Shakespeare in high school or not. 

The talent of these actors — which include Gabriel Patrascu, Scott Dowd, Ryan Shaw, Jeremy Bazata, Alani Etheridge, Angie Barrientos, Alani Etheridge, Michaela Fitzsimmons, Haylee Giglio, Talia Mazza and Thomas McGuire — is beyond exceptional. Their ability to become the characters Shakespeare created nearly 500 years ago (and speak-eth in thy tongue) is incredibly difficult but they do it with such ease that it is especially impressive. Each actor shines on stage in their Shakespearean costume, you’ll think that you’re watching New York City’s “Shakespeare in the Park,” — only this is much closer. 

The Theatres at Suffolk County Community College present Shakespeare’s Lovers & Fighters in the Shea Theatre, Islip Arts Building, SCCC Ammerman campus, 533 College Road, Selden on Nov. 14, 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. General admission is $15, veterans and students 16 years of age or younger $10. SCCC students with current ID are offered one free ticket. To order, please call the box office at 631-451-4163. 

By Julianne Mosher

How can a modern-day Thanksgiving play not ruffle any feathers, especially in a politically correct society?

Suffolk County Community College’s latest production of The Thanksgiving Play is not what one might expect. In fact, it is pure chaos, but hysterical chaos at its best. 

Directed by Steven Lantz-Gefroh and written by Larissa FastHorse, the show consists of just four actors — Scott Dowd (Jaxton), Jerry Ewald (Caden), Michaela Fitzsimmons (Alicia or A-lee-see-ya), and Taylor D’Agostino (Logan). Set in an adorably relatable elementary school classroom, the four come in to start working on a culturally appropriate and politically correct play about the first Thanksgiving meal for kids. 

One slight problem — all the actors are white, and very woke, and they feel that they cannot ethically perform a historically correct production as they grew up with white privilege. They hire a “real” actress from L.A., Alicia, who they believe is Native American… only to find out in show business looks can be deceiving. 

FastHorse, who is the first female Native American playwright to have a show produced on Broadway, writes this clever satirical comedy with poise by serving up the hypocrisies of woke America, especially with topics like Thanksgiving, Native Americans and, dare I say his name? Christopher Columbus. 

Originally making its Broadway debut in 2023, it comes to the smaller stage at SCCC’s Ammerman Campus in Selden and showcases the raw, amazing talent of these four theater students. Each one has a very bright future set up for them. 

Dowd plays Jaxton, the yogi/part-time actor, who tries to always right his wrongs of being a straight, white male brings humor to the uncomfortable topic of race, especially when he’s tasked to be a part of something that needs to appeal to all people and cultures. Dowd plays the typical hippie who jumps on the bandwagon of whatever trend is going on, and he does it convincingly well.

Ewald plays Caden, a history teacher who has very serious feelings about Christopher Columbus, but also wants his side play writing performed by real humans. As in other SCCC performances, he makes the audience laugh with his slapstick shenanigans. That being said, we should highlight the choreographers for their realistic fight scene that will have you wince, but not look away.

D’Agostino plays Logan, the glue of the story, and the main protagonist who has to navigate these other personalities while trying to keep her job as a teacher in a new school district. But she’s also incredibly woke, and restricted by her overthinking and over producing. D’Agostino’s performance shines, definitely showing the leader that she is on and off the stage. 

And we can’t forget Fitzsimmons, who plays Alicia, the L.A. actress brought in by Logan as the team’s cultural compass navigating Native American culture (Logan saw headshots of her on her website wearing braids and turquois). Your standard L.A. actress, she plays the snotty, and kind of stupid, actress who relies mostly on sex appeal for parts amazingly well. Her facial expressions even when she’s in the background tell a story in itself.

Through satire and humor, this one-act show addresses the misrepresentation of Native Americans, the lack of indigenous casting and the challenges of accurately representing indigenous people in American society — all of which FastHorse experienced herself as a Native American playwright.

And you’re honestly just going to laugh from the moment the four performers step on stage. Throughout the show, we bounce back and forth between the scene in the classroom to small musical numbers relating to Thanksgiving. 

You’ll laugh at the humor, but also with how uncomfortable these conversations can be. So, even though it’s not Thanksgiving time at all, get in the spirit of cultural appropriation and white storytelling, and head over to SCCC to see this unique, hysterical and impressive show. You’re going to gobble it up.

The Theatres at Suffolk County Community College present The Thanksgiving Play in Theatre 119, Islip Arts Building Suffolk County Community College, 533 College Road, Selden on March 15, and 16 at 7:30 p.m., and March 17 at 2 p.m. General admission is $15, veterans and students 16 years of age or younger $10. SCCC students with current ID are offered one free ticket. To order, please call the box office at 631-451-4163.

By Julianne Mosher

Your parents always said, “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Well, that’s not necessarily true. Sometimes two wrongs continue into three, four, five… and then a whole show ends up collapsing.

In Suffolk County Community College’s latest Selden production, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the audience is watching a play within a play and it will have you laughing from the moment you sit down. 

Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the show starts off with some audience improv — two cast members are setting up the stage and communicating with everyone settling in. From the moment you walk in, shenanigans are already starting — like fixing a broken mantlepiece, looking for a lost dog and trying to figure out where someone’s Duran Duran CD went. 

Then we’re introduced to “The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society’s” director, Chris Bean, who gives us a little history lesson on the troupe. Known for their productions including Two Sisters, The Lion and the Wardrobe, Cat, and James and the Peach, it’s safe to say the group is a little unlucky and a little under budget. But that doesn’t stop the actors from giving it their all with their latest production of The Murder at Havensham Manor — a 1930s murder mystery play.

When the curtain rises, mayhem ensues and it’s chaotic from beginning to end. 

Delaina Wratchford, who plays Bean, who plays the inspector, plans on heading to Broadway after her time at SCCC, and with this performance, she’s going to get on that stage sooner than later. 

That being said, what’s interesting and really special about this show is that each actor is playing two parts — they’re playing another actor who is then playing a character in The Murder at Havensham Manor. Writing that out sounds confusing, but trust me, when you watch it, it is so seamless that it makes perfect sense and there is not one flaw in it … other than all the chaotic bad luck the actors have during their performance. 

Jerry Ewald, who plays Robert Grove, who plays Thomas Colleymoore, lights up the room with his humor and his ability to stay in character even throughout the intermission. The same goes for Aiden Gomez (Jonathan, then Charles Haversham), William Begley (Max Bennett, then Cecil Haversham) and Carson Warkenthien (Dennis Tyde, then Perkins). They were able to switch back and forth between their characters to the play performers with ease. 

Even the “background” performers have a huge part in the show. First-time SCCC performer Scott Dowd (who plays Trevor the sound tech) and Kayla Pisano (Annie) bring another level to the show — because they represent people that we can relate to, personally.

One slight disclaimer, without giving too much away. You’re going to see a lot of stunts in this show, and for performers like Wratchford, Ewald and Michaela Fitzsimmons (Sandra Wilkinson, then Florence Colleymoore), you’re going to wince, but be so impressed by their professionalism under these dire movements.

So, that leads to a huge kudos to the set design staff. The stage is set up like an old-time parlor, with two levels and an elevator. The carpentry and engineering that was put into this design — created by students — is truly something you’d see on Broadway, possibly even better.

The show is special in many ways, but an interesting fact is that it was directed by Bryan Kimmelman — a Smithtown native who studied on the same stage as a theater major nearly two decades ago. 

“I’ve never forgotten my two years here,” he said. “And it’s carried with me the last 10 years with anything professional I’ve done.”

Kimmelman said that when he was a student, he knew the caliber of the education he was receiving at Suffolk.

“I know what comes out of this school and they always produce quality work,” he said. “People are going to come here and see young people working towards being a professional on all levels. So, if you want to see professionals in their moment of prime, then you need to see this show.”

Tickets for The Play That Goes Wrong are on sale now for viewings on Nov. 16, 17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Shea Theatre, Islip Arts Building on the Ammerman Campus, 533 College Road, Selden. General admission is $15, veterans and students 16 years of age or younger is $10. Suffolk students with current ID can receive two free tickets.

For more information or to order, visit sunysuffolk.edu/spotlight or call 631-451-4163.