USI will put on “The Taming” at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 to 22 in the Mallette Studio Theatre. The play is directed by Chloe Kummer, senior theatre arts and English creative writing major, and will star Ashlyn Thornburgh, Jade Griffy and Abby Scheller.*
Kummer notes that, although “The Taming” is based on “The Taming of the Shrew,” the two are very dissimilar.
“There are some fun nods… and there are some literary similarities,” said Kummer. “You won’t be disadvantaged if you’ve never seen “The Taming of the Shrew.” I think it would be pretty easy if it wasn’t called “The Taming,” to have no clue that they were related.”
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Although she had taken a directing class before, at the time of pitching the show, she had never directed, but it was something that she had wanted to try for a long time.
“Before this, I was going to be an actor. I’m also interested in writing, but acting was my main focus,” said Kummer. “Now, I’m interested in directing and it feels like something that I can actually do.”
When she first pitched the show, she left feeling like it was too late for her to direct, but when she was studying abroad, she received an email asking if she was still interested, and that’s when she began working on it.
“I was drawn to this show because I was in England,” said Kummer. “Having that distance from America, made me appreciate the culture that we have here, and also the things that are good and the things that are bad.”
Despite Kummer’s interest in Shakespeare, she was not intentionally looking for a play that he inspired.
“That wasn’t a criteria for me,” said Kummer. “I was really looking for something that didn’t require any male actors, that was a comedy and that I felt was saying something that I wanted to say.”
She also explored works with feminist themes. “We have so many incredibly female presenting actors here, and I wanted to use them,” said Kummer.
At USI, casting is usually done for all the shows at the same time. “Depending on the schedule, the directors will talk to decide how the season goes,” said Kummer.
During the process, Kummer also worked closely with Rayn Miller, the director of “35MM: A Musical Exhibition,” because rehearsals for their shows almost completely overlapped.
“The casting process was an audition initially for her and I and the casting team for “Pippin,” which is the big musical we’re doing in the spring,” said Kummer.
“I was looking for people that I knew were going to commit to the scene really hard. The play is a comedy, and it’s almost a farce,” said Kummer. “I needed people that could fill those absurd characters, but in a way that didn’t feel disingenuous.”
Chemistry was another important factor in the casting process, “because there’s only the three of them, it’s really important that they work well together and that they can throw the jokes and punchlines to each other,” said Kummer.
“Once we got it narrowed down a little bit, it was like, “Yeah, this is just right.” It really was,” said Kummer.
Although Kummer believes that these actresses are talented enough to play the other characters in “The Taming,” she feels that they are meant for the roles they currently have. “It was immediately clear to me that the characters they have are the best for them,” said Kummer.
While Kummer is nervous about all the decisions that need to be made the weekend before the show opens, she looks forward to seeing the audience’s reaction.
“When I do comedy as an actor, I love it when the audience laughs,” said Kummer. “This is confirmation for you as the performer, that they’re in it with you, and this show is insane, so they have to go with us.”
“I’m also excited to see how much the actors love having an audience because I know they’re going to,” said Kummer.
*As of this time, USI Theatre has no plans to cancel performances due to the snowstorm.
