University Theatre, Madison Rep to premiere collaboration

The real world is one tiger of a teacher. Thanks to an inaugural collaboration between the university and the Madison Repertory Theatre, 11 students are discovering or deepening their acquaintance with the real world of the working theater.

Professional actor James Ridge, left, rehearses swordplay with university junior Michael McQuire, right, for “The Three Musketeers.” Photo: Jeff Miller

Cast members Michael Goodfriend, left, and university senior Allen Ebert, right, are two of the city and university actors collaborating on a campus production of “The Three Musketeers.” Photo: Jeff Miller

Details:
“The Three Musketeers,” opening Nov. 26, will run through Dec. 19 in the Vilas Hall Mitchell Theatre, 821 University Ave. Tickets: $25 for Friday or Saturday performances; $20 for other evenings; $15 UW–Madison students all shows; Vilas Hall Box Office, 262-1500.

The students are joining 13 professional actors to debut a new version of “The Three Musketeers.” This large-scale drama, one that neither company would be able to stage by itself, is the first true collaboration between the University Theatre and the Madison Rep. The two companies are sharing technical staff as well as acting talent and are splitting costs equally.

At a recent rehearsal, Troy Dwyer, a UW–Madison master of fine arts candidate, worked on his character, “Aramis, the witty Musketeer,” Dwyer says. Events are proceeding at a brisk pace, to say the least, he says.

“University productions usually have about twice as much rehearsal time as this,” he says. “When we started rehearsal Nov. 2, the professionals already had done a great deal of work in terms of memorizing lines, researching the historical characters and developing their own interpretations,” Dwyer says. “On the other hand, a lot of the students expected those early rehearsals would just be a first reading of the script.”

This theatrical discipline is something “Musketeers” director D. Scott Glasser of the Rep wants the professional cast members to underscore for the students. Glasser says the Rep feels a strong obligation to the educational mission of the University Theatre. He himself is quite familiar with the terrain, having been on the theater faculty at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., before becoming, artistic director of the Madison Rep in 1993.

“We want to teach by example,” he says. “It’s often quite challenging though – it’s sometimes difficult to articulate the things those of us who work in the business take for granted,” he says.

Despite the demands and breathless pace of the “Three Musketeers” rehearsal schedule, working on this production will only add to the skills he will be able to offer when he graduates in spring, Dwyer says. “The varied experiences I’ve had in the theatre department will give me a real advantage,” he says, citing the many different classes he’s taken – including three semesters of theatrical sword fighting, as well as courses he’s helped to teach. This fall, for example, he’s a teaching assistant for intermediate voice and speech, and Dwyer says insight he’s gotten from “Musketeers” most assuredly will find its way into his classroom.

“In addition to the discipline I’ve seen, I’m impressed with how much the professional cast members trust their intuitions about the characters they play. I think students can think and over-analyze, sometimes to the detriment of their human impulses. I’m definitely going to encourage my students to trust their instincts,” he says.