Women are kissing, people are discussing a certain woman’smasculinity and Britney Spears is blaring. It is not as dirty as itsounds and it is not the MTV awards — it is justShakespeare’s “Macbeth.”
Swine Palace Productions and SITI Company, a theatre groupinvolved in the training of young artists, are performing the playat the Reilly Theatre on Tower Drive from Oct. 22 to Nov. 7.
The play includes modern musical selections such as”Toxic” and modernized casting, including a femaleMacbeth, played by Susan Hightower, and an interracial family.
Leonard Ingulsrad, the play’s director and a theaterteacher, became a SITI Company member in New York City and moved toBaton Rouge to work at the Swine Palace last year. He said hisfellow SITI members came down from New York City to create thisproduction.
Christopher Healy, a SITI member, plays Malcolm, the son ofBanquo, played by Eric Little, although Healy is white and Littleis black.
Healy said he sees the differences as beneficial, although theycould be distracting to some people.
“I find it expansive, not confusing,” Healysaid.
Hightower, a SITI member who said this was her first male role,said “there’s a lot of reference in the text to hismanhood that made it a little intimidating, [but] the director andI didn’t talk very much about the importance of changinggender.”
“I think that things have changed,” Hightower said.”Nontraditional casting has become commonplace.”
She said it might be “shocking, but it’s more commonnowadays,” to have switched-up sexes and races.
Shakespeare wrote his plays for men, and “didn’twrite a lot of interesting roles for women,” Ingulsrudsaid.
Hightower said she “would imagine America is a bit morediverse than Shakespeare’s world,” so a modernizedcasting makes sense for a modern audience.
“I think the contemporary audience is perfectly capable ofdealing with it” and understanding what is going on,Ingulsrud said.
Healy said assumptions are challenged when roles are not casttraditionally.
“The experience of having your assumptionschallenged,” may be “technically distracting,”but “something is acquired in doing that work that yieldsdividends.”
The thought that Hightower or Little would not be cast becauseof their sex or race is strange to Healy.
“I love the quality Eric has as the king,” Healysaid.
Healy said unusually-cast roles expand the play’s sense ofpossibility. In this case, who or what Macbeth is as a woman can beexplored.
Ingulsrud said challenging assumptions helps to understand thecharacters in a different way that does not hinder theaudience’s interpretation of the play.
“Sometimes you get hung-up on a character and an actorbeing the same,” Ingulsrud said. “This helped me seethe acting as opposed to believing this person is actually thecharacter.”
“Just making sure a character comes acrosscompletely” is more important than sticking with tradition,Hightower said.
Tickets run from $19 to $30. Student tickets are $12 and showsare at 7 p.m. and matinees are at 2 p.m.