It’s Valentine’s night at Macgowan Hall. Sitting in
the stands, amid scattered candy Sweethearts and red lollipops, a
couple of third-year theater students sing love songs. In Italian.
No, this romantic moment has nothing to do with the Hallmark
holiday, but it is indeed a scene of passion.
On this night, and every night for the rest of the week, members
of the junior class will immerse themselves in the lusty world of
Tennessee Williams as they rehearse “The Rose Tattoo,”
directed by Nicholas Gunn and set to open Wednesday night.
When Williams set out to write the story about Sicilians living
in the South, he created what the actors call a very passionate
show.
From the same creative mind that wrote “A Streetcar Named
Desire” and “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof,”
Williams’ play centers around Serafina, a Sicilian woman
living in Louisiana, whose insane love for her husband prevents her
from coping with his death. Serafina’s inability to move on
clashes with her modern daughter, who falls in love with an
American. As can be expected, these high drama characters lead to
an intense production.
“When Serafina’s angry, she’s furious. When
she’s sad, she’s devastated, and when she’s in
love, she’s obsessed,” said Amelia Nelson, the
third-year theater student who plays Serafina. “Everything is
huge with her, and that’s been really fun and difficult
coming from a culture where everything is really
contained.”
Juxtaposing this fervent Italian woman with her 1940s Southern
surroundings is another element of intrigue in “The Rose
Tattoo.” Even as an American male, Williams is able to
understand female characters and shed light on the timeless
challenge of being in one culture while living in another, said
Gloria de Leon, a third-year theater student.
“It’s important to me because I grew up in American
culture but was raised with the values of a different culture;
it’s kind of been this balance of figuring out where I fit,
and this play speaks to that,” said de Leon, who plays
Peppina, one of Serafina’s neighbors.
The cast attributes the transformative success of the play to
Williams’ writing and careful directing.
“I don’t think people really write like Williams. He
was very poetic; he was a romantic writer, and those kind of
specifics and attention to characters you don’t have (in
other writers),” said Grant Landry, a third-year theater
student, who plays the Salesman.
Various experts in the department worked together on the
production to ensure that the actors could accurately portray
Williams’ graceful vision. Paul Wagar coached the actors in
Southern and Sicilian accents, while Ed Mohan choreographed the
combat ““ yes, combat ““ sequences. When not being
coached, the actors pored over Italian films such as
“Bellissima” or analyzed Sophia Loren’s movement
to become one of Williams’ sensual Sicilian women. Finally,
director Nicholas Gunn brought all the elements of the story
together.
“Our artistic director sees the whole play as a dance with
a certain rhythm,” said de Leon.
Unlike most of Williams’ plays which end in the complete
destruction of the characters, “The Rose Tattoo”
maintains its vigor and ends with a hopeful outlook.
“In Tennessee Williams’ plays, the characters are
trying to escape and they make a valiant attempt to escape, but
because of timing and situations and what happened in the past,
they are unable to move on; they are stuck,” Nelson said.
“In this play, the characters are able to come out of the
horrific things they have suffered and make a new start despite all
the bad that has happened.”
In the end, the feisty characters ultimately drive this story
and make it more fun for the actors to become part of their
world.
“I feel in general we are so apathetic about everything,
and if we are really passionate about something, it’s to the
point where we don’t talk about it anymore because we
don’t want to step on anyone’s toes,” said Tara
Risca, a fourth-year theater student, who plays the character
Guiseppina.