By Cindy Xiong ‘17, Staff Writer

Featuring “shipwrecked twins, mistaken identity, gender, drunkenness, and a touch of maliciousness,” as Mr. Jacoby described, this year’s fall drama – Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night – is everything you could want in a play. It centers around a pair of twins, Viola and Sebastian, who were separated in a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a boy and works for the nobleman Duke Orsino, with whom she quickly falls in love, yet gets stuck in a love triangle between Duke Orsino and Olivia, who is in love with Viola disguised as “Cesario.”

The play starred several of Newark Academy’s finest actors including: Laura Boyman ’16, James Marcucci ’16, Ben Bollinger ’17, Noah Schwed ’17, Lily Brackett ’17, Chloe Yu ’17, Truman Ruberti ’16, and Claire Dempsey ’18, who worked vigorously for the past eight weeks with several other cast and crew members, under the direction of Mr. Jacoby. As Ben Bollinger ’17 explained, “I’d say we all have a lot of fun at practice but it’s also more work than usual because it’s Shakespeare so the language has been a little tough.” Chloe Yu ’17 agreed that the line memorization has been tough on all the actors, but continued to say, “The cast is really fun to work with and they’re all really positive people and we work together really well…I think we (as a cast) really have a good understanding of what we’re trying to convey and that we tell the story well.”

In talking to different members of the cast, it is evident how much work all of the actors invested in bringing the eloquent, complicated work of Shakespeare to life in a captivating and comical fashion. After three successful performances on November 5th, 6th, and 7th, it was clear that their effort paid off. Emma Hoffman ’16, production stage manager, said, “It’s been a wonderful experience watching the cast conquer Shakespeare’s language and drama. Every [rehearsal] marked an improvement and led to these hilarious, touching performances. I am honored to have worked with such [an] energetic [group of] young actors.”