A Hard Day's Twelfth Night with Cincinnati Shakespeare Company

From March to May 2022, I’ve been packing a van and driving all over the Dayton, Ohio school district as a member of Cincinnati Shakespeare’s Touring Company for their performances of A Hard Day’s Twelfth Night, where I played Sebastian and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. This abridged adaptation Twelfth Night, or What You Will by William Shakespeare combined original text and songs with some decidedly modern touches, and of course, CSC’s trademark interactive style. We brought the students right into the middle of the action, took them on a music-filled, whirlwind tour of the wacky town of Illyria, and the even wackier characters who inhabit it. All while still an apprentice at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati (juggling both).

I learned so much from my peers about how to devise theatre and how to collaborate in creative space, quickly! They really took me in and embraced me as a real member of their team. They were an ensemble long before I joined, so I had to be worked into their show, with lots of room to change and create. Most members of the ensemble must play more than one character throughout the performance. What changes do I need to adopt in costume, physical posture and vocal inflection to set the characters apart? What is essential for the story and what is not? I feel really prepared for touring shows now.