Thursday June 28th
Show Title: Volpone, or The Fox
Director: Mary Finch
Assistant Directors: Miranda McPherson and Chase O’Neill
Production Intern: Abraham Joyner-Meyers
Rehearsal Room: Hunt West
What we did
Today’s rehearsal (our 7th continuous day of rehearsal!) focused on our cast song (dancing choreographed by RDA Chase) and costuming. After practicing our cowboy swagger for “Outlaw in ‘Em” and putting on a fashion show (a different strut all together), we looked at the opening 7 lines of the play, the acrostic “argument” of the play. Both cast and staff are all looking forward to tomorrow’s trip to Sherando Lake.
Quick and Quotable
From the play
THE ARGUMENT:
V olpone, childless, rich, feigns sick, despairs,
O ffers his state to hopes of several heirs,
L ies languishing: his parasite receives
P resents of all, assures, deludes; then weaves
O ther cross plots, which ope themselves, are told.
N ew tricks for safety are sought; they thrive: when bold,
E ach tempts the other again, and all are sold.
From the director
MASSAGE THERAPIST: You don’t normally see this kind of thing till you’re forty.
FINCH: I’m an overachiever.
From the cast
Adrienne: We’re going to be super cowboys.
Production Insights
While at first the choreographed dance felt exaggerated, quickly the cast integrated their cowboy personas with Jonson’s characters. The archetypes of Jonson’s comedia pastiche blended perfectly with our old-west caricatures. I can’t wait to see this our frontier Italian fusion set on an early modern stage.
Identifying the Outlaw in Each Other
The Avocados Introduce the Play (and the Law)
Fancy Dress Up Party with Finch
Abraham Joyner-Meyers
Abraham Joyner-Meyers is a fiddler, a juggler, and a huge Shakespeare nerd. He completed watching the Shakespearean canon in the fall after seeing ASC’s production of The Fall of King Henry (Henry VI, Part 3). His passion for the Bard also led him to attend ASCTC for two summers, where he acted in Two Gentleman of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing. When Abe is not furiously reading, seeing, or acting in Shakespeare plays, he’ll often be found teaching himself to play new instruments, dancing at contras and with Morris teams, or training with his school archery team. He just completed his freshman year in the dual degree program between Harvard University and Berklee College of Music.