Guerilla Shakespeare hits the upper quad

The scene was strangely cold for late April this past Tuesday night, and for a few girls who walked by the backside of the MSE library, arms folded in sorority sweatshirts, the scene was just plain strange.

"How tame, when men and women are alone," bellowed Noah Stanzione, a Bic-headed senior in a leather jacket, from the brick patio just above the marble steps leading to the double doors of the library. "A meacock wretch can make the cursest shrew!"

This was a rehearsal for the Barnstormers' production of The Taming of the Shrew: not only the lone student Shakespeare production on campus this year, but also the only outdoor theatre to grace the fair, green Hopkins campus. But more importantly, this weekend's staging of Shrew, which will occur on the steps of MSE for two days during Spring Fair, is the work of the diehards -- the underground theatre nuts of Homewood campus who are in it for the love of stagecraft and nothing else. Very few people will likely watch them performThe Taming of the Shrew, but the cast and crew don't care.

Co-director and senior Evan Hulka sits on a blue, wooden, stage-prop chair in front of the impromptu stage, taking periodic notes in his Penguin thrift edition of the play. He reaches down to his shoulder bag, pulls out a green glass pint bottle of Jaegermeister, takes a long drag, and then chases it with a sip of Vanilla Pepsi.

"There is a budding Spring Fair Shakespeare tradition," he tells me, "but I don't think anyone really gives a [expletive deleted]." Hulka, along with senior co-director Michelle Lesifko and several members of the cast, has been involved in the outdoor Spring Fair shows for the past three years, and when Hulka first got involved, it was as director of Much Ado About Nothing, performed in 2003 on the Beach by the short-lived "Underground Shakespeare Company."

Taking a break from her substitute role as Kate (filling in for an absent lead actress), Lesifko comes and sits in the director's chair, helping herself to a pull from the bottle. According to Hulka, the full cast has not yet showed up for a rehearsal -- there is always someone missing.

"I think that this is something that really ought to happen," she says. "Shakespeare comedies are really conducive to outdoor theatre because you don't have to understand the wordsÉthe action speaks for itself." On stage, Stanzione's character Petruchio is trying to get Grumio (junior Jonathan Weisz) to hit him, but, failing, eventually tackles him onto the marble library dedication plaque that sits in the center of the patio.

This year's outdoor Spring Fair production is Lesifko's directorial debut, but she has acted in every Barnstormers show thus far this year, except for the musical Bat Boy. She recalls that she had a hard time getting into Shakespeare when she was younger and just reading the Bard's plays. Actually seeing one staged was a turning point for her, and she hopes that this year's show, full of "slapstick comedy and dirty jokes" will be a similar experience for the audience. "I mean, we couldn't put on a tragedy out here," she says assuredly.

The Barnstormers' Shrew is also different because it includes several challenging gender modifications. Freshman Julie Sihilling is cast as Lucentio, one of the many men in the play courting Bianca (sophomore Katie Schoenberger). "I think women should get to have more good roles in Shakespeare," explains Lesifko, and because she had quite a few talented females in the cast, she decided to give one of them a lead role. "Once we started rehearsing, I realized that this lesbian aspect is hilarious, because it really challenges the misogynistic parts of The Taming of the Shrew."

Unfortunately, there will be no shocking girl-on-girl stage kisses. "We wanted there to be a meaty love scene, but I don't think the actors are going to do it É There will, however, be plenty of male gay kissing."

And this is just another example of the guerilla production's challenging, rebellious attitude towards the Bard. "We're doing this play for a modern audience," says Lesifko, "and it helps to make it relatable to them."

The Barnstormers will perform Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 30th and Sunday, May 1st on the steps of the back side of MSE Library. The performance is free and is part of the Spring Fair celebrations.