Cardinal players bring Shakespeare to Medical Lake stage

The Medical Lake Cardinal Players are gearing up for their fall production as they will be performing an adaption of William Shakespeare's "As You Like It."

"As You Like It" is a comedy that focuses on Rosalind, whose uncle Duke Frederick usurped her father, Duke Senior, of his power. Rosalind remains at court where she falls in love with Orlando, who reciprocates her feelings yet leaves the court when he discovers a plot against his life. Frederick banishes Rosalind, who is joined by her cousin Celia and the court jester Touchstone. Rosalind disguises herself as a man named Ganymede while Celia takes on the alias of a commoner named Aliena to ensure safety on their journey.

Janine Warrington, Medical Lake alumna class of 2013, is directing the play. Although she's directed stage adaptions of Anton Chekov's "The Boor" and Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," this will be her first five-act production. Warrington, who is majoring in religious studies and theater at Gonzaga University, said the Shakespeare comedy wasn't the original play she was going to direct.

"I had a completely different script picked out that wasn't even Shakespeare,'" Warrington said. "But then I woke up one morning and I felt like God told me that I was supposed to do 'As You Like It' instead. I scrapped everything else. Since the script is public domain it wasn't too difficult to switch over."

Although Warrington has never performed in one of Shakespeare's plays, she attended a couple of summer classes with Eastern Washington University professor Jeff Sanders where she learned about the famous playwright. Warrington said "As You Like It" is a play that allows the actors to immerse themselves into their roles.

"It has a lot of big characters and we have a lot of character actors, so it allows them to be really big on stage," Warrington said. "In the last couple of years Medical Lake has done more realistic shows, so it's nice to have something with a little more caricature in it."

The Cardinal Players held auditions during the second week of school. The performers rehearse every Monday, Friday and Saturday. Warrington said the cast has a range of experienced actors and fresh faces. She's impressed with how the cast and crew have bonded. She also thinks that having a full-length production will be good for Medical Lake.

One of the veteran performers is Skyler Watchel, who plays Frederick and Silvius the shepherd.

"It's a lot of fun," Watchel said. "Shakespeare did a lot of quirky things and was ahead of his time."

One of the newer cast members is freshman Sofia Novochekhova, who plays the shepherd Phebe and Orlando's servant Adam.

"I've never played a role like this," Novochekhova said. "I'm used to playing Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz' or Elsa from 'Frozen.' It's a big transition going from 'I don't think we're in Kansas anymore' to 'now let them kill thee.'"

Performances for "As You Like It" are Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. and Saturday Nov. 8 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. All shows are in the high school auditorium and admission is free.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.