Author: Soo Jin Kim
Tonight Oxy opens its newest mainstage production, Saint Joan. A large cast of theatre students will perform the show, written by George Bernard Shaw and produced by director and Professor of Theatre Alan Freeman. An air of excitement hangs around everyone involved in the show just before opening night. “I’m excited, there’s still a lot of work that we need to do between now and when the show opens, but I think we’ll all be ready,” Andy Leferink (senior) who plays Charles the Dauphin said at a rehearsal last week. “It’s a very unique play – I’ve never done a play quite like this, so it’s interesting.”
Saint Joan revolves around the story of a young French girl, Joan, who claims to hear voices from God and leads a rebellion against the English. “She becomes the most powerful woman in Europe and within two years of that, she is condemned by both the state and the church and executed,” Freeman said. The play confronts three timeless questions: the extent of the power of the state, the extent of the power of the Church and the extent of the power of the individual against the masses.
“Joan represents one of the first protestant martyrs and she is condemned for two reasons – one that she claims direct access to God and direct contact with the king, so she’s both a secular heretic and a religious heretic. Both the state and the church find they cannot exist if she lives,” said Freeman. “It is a classic, tragic, conflict that is very exciting to try and make come to life on stage.”
Bringing a show of this caliber to life is both rewarding and challenging. Despite the large cast, the play has so many characters that some students have a second, or even a third role to play. “The story is centered around Joan, but it really requires every single character in order to tell it,” Sarah Garza (senior) said, who plays both the Steward and D’estivet. Playing two different characters with different perspectives, Garza said, “[helped me] hold on to the part of me that loves Joan’s story and then explore that other part of me now that’s starting to understand how people would want her to be destroyed.”
After spending weeks getting to know their characters, the actors found they wanted to portray them realistically to the audience, even if their point of view may be hard to access. “I feel like because he [the Earl of Warwick] is the villain, I want the audience to understand him as I have tried to understand him and why he’s doing what he’s doing,” Alex Marshall (junior) said of his character.
As Saint Joan thematically explores timeless power struggles, theater students anticipate affecting the audience in addition to offering poignant performances. “I’d like to bring the story of Joan of Arc more to the forefront of people’s minds,” Zoe Rudman (sophomore) who plays Joan, said. “I hope that I can bring energy to the show, have the energy of the audience, the energy of the cast members and just sort of, hopefully, keep this play going.”
Beyond its entertainment value, the play is also one of the last productions directed by Freeman who will be retiring at the end of next semester. After 40 years of teaching at Occidental, Freeman specifically chose to direct Saint Joan as he goes on to pursue other projects. “It’s a play I’ve loved for a long time . . . it’s a play I’ve always wanted to do so it was the time to do it,” said Freeman. “I also think that the play Saint Joan has a universal appeal like all great literature. It’s always timely.”
See Saint Joan at Keck Theater Nov. 19- Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 23 at 2 p.m. Special talk-back with cast and director following Nov. 21 performance. Tickets $5 for students.
Additional reporting by Brenda McNary
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