The British are indeed taking over Gannon University’s Schuster Theatre. The Cambridge American Stage Tour – CAST – will present William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” on Gannon’s stage Saturday.
CAST, a group of 18 students from Cambridge, England, will visit Gannon for the seventh time in recent history. For the last 13 years, CAST has participated in a tour of the eastern United States, visiting colleges and universities, followed by a two-week performance in England.
Sarah Sgro, a French and international business major, has seen three of CAST’s performances at Gannon.
“CAST has heightened my awareness of certain Shakespeare shows,” Sgro said. “For example, I didn’t know much about last year’s show, ‘Antony and Cleopatra,’ other than the basics.”
As a traveling theater group, CAST is required to prepare, perform and pack up within hours of arrival in a city. All of the students who travel with CAST are part of the tech crew, the performance cast and the designers of the show.
Sgro said part of the great thing about seeing CAST is getting to know the students involved.
“It’s nice because they’re our age,” Sgro said. “They’re all students with a variety of majors, who pack up every year and travel to a different continent to perform the theater they love.”
With the “to-die-for” British accents, the authenticity of the shows CAST brings is a fresh face for all involved.
“They make Shakespeare accessible, and they do it with their own adaptation,” Sgro said. “You can tell they work hard on the shows and bring a lot of heart to them.”
This year’s performance will feature one of Shakespeare’s noted “problem plays.” “Measure for Measure” features a sex slave business, an undercover city official and a twisted love plot.
“It’s guaranteed to be a brand new look at an older show,” Sgro said. “I’m sure they’ll do as wonderfully with this show as they have in past years.”
CAST will perform “Measure for Measure” twice at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Schuster Theatre. Admission is $5 and all proceeds go to fund the Cambridge American Stage Tour.
For more information about CAST and how to find tickets, visit gannon.edu/schustertheatre.
CRISTEN MANION
