Christopher Haliskoe, Online Managing Editor
A fun time is promised for all with Pierce’s Theater Arts Department’s production of Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). The comedy, written by Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald, is the story of a literature professor who is sucked into the works of Shakespeare, learning insights about the Bard’s genius and about herself. The play has had a long gestation period at the Theater Arts Department. “We first read the play a year ago,” said Jonica Patella, who plays the lead character, Constance Ledbelly, “and we’ve been planning it since then.” The play centers around Constance, an assistant professor of English at Queen’s University in Canada, where she is studying a manuscript that may hold the andwers to Shakespeare’s tragedies. A personal tragedy throws her into her own subconscious mind, where she becomes a character in two of Shakespeare’s plays (Desdemona in Othello and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet). About fifty percent of the play’s dialogue is Shakespeare, either directly quoted or referenced. “Its appeal lies in its combination of highbrow and lowbrow humor,” said assistant director Mark Hein. “There are some jokes that everyone will understand and jokes that only seasoned Shakespeare buffs will understand.” Patella, a 33-year-old Pierce student well-versed in Shakespeare, was struck by the play’s wit. “It was the smartest, funniest play I’d ever read,” she said. The first performance will take place on Nov. 30 at 8 P.M. at the Dow Arena Theater in Pierce’s Performing Arts Center. Patella, who also works with ASL students, says there will be one performance with an ASL interpretation.