From the pages of a classic novel to
the lights of the stage, the well-known
story of “Pride and Prejudice” made its
way to the Colorado Mesa University
(CMU) Moss Performing Arts Center
the first few weekends of November.
“Pride and Prejudice” is a story about
a family with five daughters, who all feel
the need to marry rich due to financial
difficulties. The plot revolves around
one of the daughters, Elizabeth, and an
eligible bachelor named Mr. Fitzwilliam
Darcy. The tale chronicles how they
overcome their initial first impressions
of each other and eventually fall in love.
Courtesy of Jill Van Brussel
Student Ryland Mahre, who played
Mr. Darcy, said that the workload for
the play was difficult to balance but
that the ability to find joy in acting was
worth the stress.
“We rehearse about 20 hours a week for a month, then closer to 25 as we approach the show date. It’s basically a part time job. So while it consumes most of your free time, it’s definitely worth it to finally get up there and perform,” Mahre said. “Getting to
inhabit a character for a live audience is
an addicting sensation. I wouldn’t give
it up for the world.”
Director Jill Van Brussel said that the
performances of “Pride and Prejudice”
went very well.
“I think the response varies from
night to night, in terms of how [students]
find the humor of it. People are very
responsive to the romantic aspect of it,
which I think is very well done in this
production,” Van Brussel said.
She also said that the process of directing a play requires a large amount of brain power due to the sheer number of various elements at hand, and the intricacies they all present. She said that costuming, sets, lighting and music of “Pride and Prejudice” all played a big role in the overall production, and trying to keep them all together is challenging.
Courtesy of Jill Van Brussel
“You’re kind of like the conductor
of an orchestra […] you have your
attention on the actors and where to
stage them [and] how to move them
around the stage,” Van Brussel said.
“You’re also looking at the costumes
and how those are going to serve the
storytelling and getting those built in
the shop.”
At the same time, is that challenge
is really stimulating it’s really exciting.
I’m a big fan of chaos due to all these
characters and the story is dear to me,”
Van Brussel said.
She added that “Pride and Prejudice”
is a story that means a lot to her, and that
putting together a staged production
was a very rewarding experience.
“I’ve known these characters for a long time, so the chance to actually get to work on bringing them to life with our particular group of actors that we have in our department is joyous, really fun, really exciting.”