MacEwan theatre arts students get pumped for last performance at CFAC
Danika McDonald
arts editor
With the end of the semester just around the corner, MacEwan theatre arts students are getting excited for their last performance at the Centre for the Arts and Communications, marking the end of their rigorous chapter in the program.
Shakespeare’s The Twelfth Night opened March 16 and runs until March 20 and is being preformed nightly in the MacEwan Theatre Lab.
Second-year theatre student and actor, Zachary Parsons-Lozinski is no newcomer to the unique set-up of the MacEwan Theatre Lab, having performed in The Mating Season earlier this year.
“I love the Theatre Lab,” says Parsons-Lozinski.
“It is so intimate and it just feels special. It’s a really great theatre space. It breaks down that wall between, ‘I’m the actor, you are the audience’, and I think it envelopes the audience into the world of the show. They become part of the experience as opposed to ‘clap clap clap, that was nice.”’
Parsons-Lozinski urges audiences to come see the play in the smaller theatre setting because it’s a great way to see professional quality theatre literally right in front of you, around and behind you.
The play, directed by Kenneth Brown, is a tale that has been familiar to audiences for quite sometime. The play is of mix-ups and mishaps and is known as one of Shakespeare’s most popular comedies.
It surrounds Viola, who is shipwrecked on an island and must disguise herself as a boy. Consequently, she is also courted like one, by the baffled Lady Olivia, of which Violia has been aiding her employer, Count Orsino in pursuing.
Oh, and to make matters worse, Viola is madly in love with Orsino herself. Parsons-Lozinski plays Melvolio, Olivia’s steward.
“He’s sort of the comic villain in the piece,” Parons-Lozinski laughs, telling those who are fans of the Amanda Bynes’ film She’s The Man to come see a more to-text version of The Twelfth Night.
“(I’ve) had so much fun doing the show,” Parsons Lozinski admits.
“It’s been my first Shakespeare, and I absolutely adore working with Ken Brown. I think he’s a genius. He is in incredibly passionate.”
Parson-Lozinski adds that Brown is one of his favourite people to work with because he knows what he wants and will not accept anything less than perfection from the students working with him.
As for students hoping to be a part of the theatre arts program in the future, one thing can be made clear, it takes a lot of time and dedication.
“This isn’t a program that lends itself well to people that aren’t team players — the people who don’t work well in ensemble — so, because the hours are so long and because we basically live here, you have to be so passionate about theatre to want to undertake such a huge endeavor,” Parsons Lozinski explains.
“I see my theatre-arts family more than my actual family.”
As for how Parsons-Lozinksi is coping with the final weeks of the tedious theatre arts program, he admits it comes with a few challenges.
“There’s a little bit of nostalgia because we see each other so often. It’s going to be weird not seeing the same 30-something people day after day after day,” jokes Parsons-Lozinski.
“But at the same time, more so than nostalgia, there’s excitement for what’s going to come next.”
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