Ferrum College hosted the Festival Of Drama And Curiosity on Oct. 18 to help open up homecoming weekend. The department hosted its annual Renaissance Faire as well as a production of Twelfth Night: Or What You Will”.
“The Renaissance fair was a lot of fun! We had a good turn out, and folks seemed to have a good time. There was such a great variety of things to do,” said Performing Arts Professor Rebecca Crocker. “I’d say my favorite was the natural fibers table by Anna Fausnacht, it was really interesting to see how the different dyes were made.”
The college also hosted the “Twelfth Night: Or What You Will” play at the Rex Stevenson Theatre the same day though Oct. 20.
Crocker said she was pleased with the turnout.
“We didn’t have the same sized audiences we normally see, but I think that was a result of it being Homecoming weekend, and folks weren’t as aware of the event,” she said. “Even with that, the show went fantastically. I am so proud of the actors and my co-director TJ Baker. Everyone worked so hard.”
Crocker also stated that there were many unfamiliar faces at the three performances.
“We welcomed community members, which is always fun,” Crocker said. “Aina Reese, Gage Wilkinson, and Ela Ashley, are all local high school and middle school students that joined us, and we really enjoyed having them as part of the cast. We also had Jamie Groce join us as Sir Toby Belch, who is Katie Groce’s (sophomore) mom (Katie played Sir Andrew), so it was really fun to see their dynamic on stage.”
Django Burgess, sophomore, one of the actors of the “Twelfth Night”, said the performances went well.
“Our audiences were good, and our actors’ comfortability levels went up. I have enjoyed this show and our last Shakespeare show for their unique experiences from other kinds of plays. Seeing who in the audience actually understands the countless dated references and jokes is always a fun event,” he said.
Burgess also said that the preparation for this show was more difficult than he expected.
“Frequently with shows, I don’t even need to practice my lines outside of rehearsal, they just work their way into my brain for my memorization deadline,” he said. “However, with Shakespeare, that’s not the case. This whole process has been rigorous work–from the entire cast through the entire process, and I am proud of what we presented.”
For Danielle Wilburn, freshman and another actor in the performances, this was her first production.
“I was always in music and band classes in high school and never had the chance to explore any theater classes until now,” she said. “I was really nervous about memorizing lines, especially it being Shakespeare, but I had so much love and support from cast mates, directors, crew, and my family that I had enough confidence when the time came to step out on stage.”
