BRCC uses 'MacBeth' as learning tool

• By ROBIN MILLER
• Arts writer
• Published: Nov 1, 2009

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Somebody’s going to ask the question, so may as well get it out of the way.

Haven’t they done this already? You know, Macbeth. Didn’t Baton Rouge Community College perform William Shakespeare’s classic last fall?

Yes. It’s as simple as that. And it’s understandable that the college’s Theatre and Entertainment Technology Program would again want to perform it.

So, it will open on Friday, Nov. 6, in the college’s Magnolia Performing Arts Pavilion.

“We had it on our schedule last year, but we had to reschedule it because of Hurricane Gustav,” David Sedevie said. “Then we had to cut it short, so a lot of people didn’t get to see it.”

Besides, staging it a second time opens more opportunities for Sedevie and his crew.  Sedevie is director of this show, and he’s also an instructor of film and theatre at the college.

He took a theater group from the college to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008, where he met John Farmanesh-Boca, artistic director of Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble. The two became fast friends.

Now add Nick Erickson to the mix. He’s an assistant professor of movement acting in the LSU Department of Theatre. He was at The Fringe with a theater group from LSU.

And the three developed an idea.

How about restaging Macbeth with a cast of professional and student actors? The situation would be more than performing a play; it would be a learning experience.

“It’s the kind of learning experience I’ve imagined since I was in school,” Farmanesh-Boca said. “Now, don’t get me wrong. English class is great, but Shakespeare wasn’t meant to be read in a classroom. It was meant to be lived and acted on stage.”

He pauses, watching rehearsal of Act One from the back of the Magnolia’s theater.

“Look at that,” Farmanesh-Boca said. “Do you see how the student actors are standing in the back, watching intensely while the professional actors rehearse their scene? They’re listening to every word of the conversation and soaking in how these actors do it. That’s one of the greatest educational experiences you can have.”