The Fresno City College theater department will be performing “The Illusion” by Steven Kushner, a play adapted from Pierre Corneille’s “l’Illusion Comique.” The play will be running from Oct 7 through Oct 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fresno City College theater. Theater professor Janine Christl will be directing the piece.
The original piece written in 1653 was ahead of its time in its use of theater and story telling devices such as: play within a play, and mixing of tragedy and comedy. The play deals with a father who longs to see his son after 15 years and turns to a magician to find him. The father is shown three different versions of his son’s fate. The adaptation by Tony Kushner uses contemporary version of 17th century language and moves the story to modern times.
Each year the department works together to bring something new to the student body. They look at what would be right for the student population, what has been done in the past, and what they need to fulfill in the future.
“I liked that we have a bit of period and it would be something different for our students than what we have done in the past couple of years,” said Christl. “The piece is something that hasn’t been done by many other schools. This is not a typical production for a college theater.”
The play has several themes including one of love and love lost as the father looks for his son.
“Another big theme we are working with is one of living your life without knowing where we think we are the ones plotting it out but are we? And what is an illusion and what is true? Love falls into that as well because it’s something that isn’t tangible so there is a big kind of thrust forwarding the show about what is real and what isn’t,” said Christl.
The preparation for the play started before the beginning of the semester.
Dave Meacham stage manager says “The director and stage designer throw ideas around for at least 2 to 3 months before it actually goes into rehearsal.” Lights, sound and stage add to the quality of the play and are a major part of the theater going experience.
Meacham has two assistant stage managers and a full theater class that helps to build the set. “At this point it’s probably about 30 to 40 people working on it before it goes into production so it’s a lot of love and sweat, but no blood yet,” said Meacham.
Part of the play takes place in a cave so making the stage look like a cave required some creativity on the part of the scene shop. Clever light tricks and textures for the set were used.
Josh Hansen, a third year theater major, plays three characters in the play: Pleribo, Adrastc, and Prince Florilame. He has been working on the play since Aug 24, the first day of rehearsal.
Hansen has found it challenging to wrap his head around the 16th century language. At some points, it’s hard for him to actually understand what is being said.
Hansen says of his characters “There’s a lot of attributes that I do connect with a lot and there’s some that I just have to reach in and play a character and find because I’ve never had to deal with situations like that.”
Christl said audiences can expect a play full of adventure. “It’s fast paced. If they are fans of the lord of the rings, there is a lord of the rings-esque feel to it because of the cave and the wizard and the magic. If they are into 17th century period pieces, it’s a blend of contemporary theater and classical theatre,” said Christl.
