Arabella Benjamin (CFA’25) as Desdemona (left) and Lana Breheney (CFA’25) as Emilia in CFA’s DESDEMONA a play about a handkerchief, which runs at the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre April 16 to 19.

Theatre

Forget “Barbenheimer.” Try “Desdemilia.”

CFA plays DESDEMONA a play about a handkerchief and Emilia take on women and Shakespeare on the same set at the Booth Theatre

The word of the month at the College of Fine Arts School of Theatre is “Desdemilia.”

It’s a portmanteau combining the titles DESDEMONA a play about a handkerchief, and Emilia, the school’s spring productions at the Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre. The two plays are linked by connections to Shakespeare and an exploration of women’s roles—and they even share a set.

“Everyone on both of the teams has been working together on the vision of this since last November,” says Taylor Stark (CFA’25), who directs Emilia. “Some of the first conversations we had were about themes that feel like they’re overlapping in the two stories, so we could start to build a space that felt like it would work for both stories.”

DESDEMONA a play about a handkerchief, by Paula Vogel, directed by Grant Sorenson (CFA’25), runs Wednesday, April 16, through Saturday, April 19. Emilia, by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, runs April 25 to 27. 

Vogel’s DESDEMONA brings a whole new attitude to the wife of Shakespeare’s Othello. Malcolm’s Emilia focuses on Emilia Bassano, a female poet and contemporary of Shakespeare who may have been the “Dark Lady” of his sonnets, yet has been largely overlooked by history. There’s even a character named Emilia in Othello; she also appears in DESDEMONA. 

“We’re trying to find more ways of making connections between the pieces that we do,” says Kirsten Greenidge, a CFA associate professor and director of the School of Theatre. “We’re helping those conversations to happen for audiences and also for students.”

The two productions feature all-female casts, following the all-male production of Terrence McNally’s Corpus Christi earlier this month at Studio One. “What the plays are asking for in terms of how you present them is very different,” says Sorenson, like Stark a student in the MFA directing program. DESDEMONA has a cast of 3 and takes place over the course of one day in one location; Emilia has a cast of 13 and takes place over many years in multiple locations.

“My play really is about three women who are very isolated in a very masculine world,” Sorenson says. “They’re on this island, very far away from Venice, which is where they are from. So actually, having a very large space felt like it isolated these three bodies on stage really effectively and in a helpful way for the storytelling.”

A Vogel devotee, Sorenson arranged a zoom call with the Pulitzer- and Tony-winning playwright for the cast.

Stark faced different challenges. “For me, I’m like, where am I going to put all 13 of these people, especially when they’re not in the scene? Because we also have a lot of scenes that are just 2 people, 3 people, and then you have 10 other bodies, and in our case, the bodies don’t really ever leave the space, because there’s no backstage. So I think that’ll be an exciting thing for both of the plays—to see how we use this space differently.” 

Desdemilia is also full of music and driven by a sort of rock concert aesthetic at times, Sorenson says. 

“The play was written in the ’90s, so we were inspired a lot by the 1990s Riot Grrrl movement. The beginnings of the punk scene, and rock and pop concerts from the ‘90s to today, were inspirational to us, especially female singers, female songwriters,” he says.

Both productions use a mix of contemporary and period garb, she says. “Both of our costume designers are crafting worlds that utilize the silhouettes of Elizabethan England, but with a very contemporary spin; definitely classically inspired, but sort of set in present day. For the music too. We have a lot of period music with sort of like club beats woven into them or classical adaptations of contemporary songs.”

The design team on DESDEMONA consists of Jacklyn Cinnamon (CFA’25), scenic designer; Hope Debelius (CFA’25), lighting; Rory Shea (CFA’26), sound; and Angela Zhang (CFA’28), costumes. The Emilia team is Si Shen (CFA’26), scenic designer; Zachary Connell (CFA’25), lighting; Mackenzie Adamick (CFA’24), sound; and Sydney Hovasse (CFA’25), costumes.

Although the two productions have been rehearsing in adjoining rooms at CFA before DESDEMONA recently moved over to the Booth, interaction has been limited. But the thinking is definitely parallel.

“I think it’ll be really exciting to have these two plays back to back because they’re completely different stories and storytelling, but kind of a similar vibe,” says Arabella Benjamin (CFA’25), an acting undergrad who plays the title character in DESDEMONA. “Paula Vogel creates a world in which you only see three women on stage, but the way that they interact is based on the world that they’re in, and that has been created by the men in their lives. 

“While you never see the men, you’re constantly hearing about their husbands and the men that they’ve interacted with,” she says. “And so while I think you can read Desdemona to be cruel and a villain, I think ultimately the villain is the patriarchy at the end of the day, and that was kind of the nut that I wanted to crack.”

In Emilia, Christian Donnerson (CFA’25), a theatre arts undergrad, plays one of the play’s three Emilias at different stages of life.

“Factually, there’s not a lot written about her, and the people who were writing about her have some biases and they existed in a particular time,” Donnerson says. “I think what’s cool about this story is that we get to reclaim what Emilia was and who she was—and she’s not just one person. And there are many female authors and artists and visionaries who existed before her that we just don’t have notated and recorded. That’s kind of the thesis of the story.”

Greenidge says “Desdemilia”—originally conceived under her predecessor, Susan Mickey—is an experiment for the School of Theatre. ”It’s not really in repertory, but it definitely borrows from the rep idea. I think we’re looking at it as a test case for next year and seasons to come, where our productions can share resources and more.

“I think in the plan for next year, there will be some connection points like that as well. And it’s fun to throw more things in front of the students, right?” says Greenidge, an award-winning playwright. “As a student, you might find it rather challenging. I hope that that is part of the education here for both BFAs and MFAs, that it’s a challenge that they have the tools to be able to handle.”

DESDEMONA a play about a handkerchief, by Paula Vogel, directed by Grant Sorenson (CFA’25), runs Wednesday, April 16, through Saturday, April 19. Emilia, by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, runs Friday, April 25, to Sunday, April 27. Purchase tickets on the links. Find discount codes for students, faculty, staff, alumni, and non-BU students here.