#messenio

[tess-or-no]

The Brother’s Menaechmi/Menaechmus Characters as John Mulaney Quotes:

Menaechmus I:

or alternatively

Menaechmus II (Sosicles):

or alternatively

Messenio:

or alternatively

Erotium (the Mistress):

Uxor (the Wife):

Peniculus (the Parasite/Sponge):

The Mother/Father:

[concordiairvinetheatre]

The Messenio Diary - Part 6 - The Final Entry

This “Diary Series” covers observations by CUI student Haley Brown as she prepared for the role of Messenio in our production of The Brothers Menaechmus - a Roman comedy by Plautus .  Her “behind the scenes” view covers theatre at Concordia, preparing a role with masks, and the hazards of a woman playing a man’s role:

After having my revelation about Messenio the rest of the rehearsal process was an absolute blast! Professor Vezner and I had to do a dip several times to find a safe way to “drop” me, and then I had to do it several more times with Kendall (who did drop me. I dropped him first though so I guess we’re even). I found out I had to sing part of the show as an opera. Not just sing it, but opera sing it! I laughed as my fellow cast mates found new and funny things to do every night, and I fell more in love with the character of Messenio. Then all of a sudden, it was tech week, and it was time to put everything together and present it to our friends and families.

My wig was appropriately atrocious. With the mask it looked great, but when I didn’t have the mask on it was scary. My costume was a simple brown tunic, that was a little shorter, and tighter than the rehearsal skirts I had been wearing, so I had to adjust my movements a little to keep from flashing the audience. All together it made me feel more like Messenio, and when opening night came I was ready.

We were all a little nervous. I mean none of us had ever done a show like this before. We thought we were hysterical, but we weren’t sure how the audience would respond. Every night I thought we had great audiences; they weren’t as vocal as some of the cast had been hoping, but they always seemed to be smiling, and completely enjoying the show. Everyone we talked to loved it and thought we were hysterical. By the time the second weekend came around I realized that it was actually a good thing the audiences weren’t as vocal as some had hoped. If we did have to hold for laughter all the time the show would slow down, and our show was fast paced. Holding for laughs, while great for our egos, would ultimately be detrimental to the show.

All in all I’m happy Messenio was the last role I would play on the Concordia stage. I got to play a man again, even if I still had to wear a “dress.” I got to play him like a monkey. I got to wear a mask. I got to work with friends who are basically family. And I got to make people laugh. I couldn’t have asked for a better director, better cast, or better show to take my final bows with.

[concordiairvinetheatre]

The Menaechmus Diaries - Part 5

This “Diary Series” covers observations by CUI student Haley Brown as she prepared for the role of Messenio in our production of The Brothers Menaechmus - a Roman comedy by Plautus .  Her “behind the scenes” view covers theatre at Concordia, preparing a role with masks, and the hazards of a woman playing a man’s role:

I left that rehearsal, and many of the first rehearsals very confused. I was trying to find the balance between this wise, loyal, old man I saw in my head, with the dopey, loyal, young monkey I saw in the mirror.  Then I had my revelation!  I was driving home from rehearsal trying to balance the two, seemingly opposing characters when it hit me: Monkey’s are always portrayed in only a handful of ways, they’re the wise old sage, or the young trickster.

I personally don’t believe in horoscopes, or in reading the stars to find your spirit animal (though I was born in the Chinese year of the Monkey, fun fact) but I do find all those things interesting, and I do look into them from time to time. It was then that I realized whether old or young, the monkeys are always smart, and wise - it’s simply how they choose to use that information that makes them wise or foolish.  Now Messenio was starting to make sense to me. He could be the young, energetic, bouncy character that was also loyal, wise, and a little dopey.

[concordiairvinetheatre]

The Menaechmus Diaries - Part 4

This “Diary Series” covers observations by CUI student Haley Brown as she prepared for the role of Messenio in our production of The Brothers Menaechmus - a Roman comedy by Plautus .  Her “behind the scenes” view covers theatre at Concordia, preparing a role with masks, and the hazards of a woman playing a man’s role:

Once everyone had their masks we headed to the dressing rooms to explore the masks with mirrors. We were trying them on, seeing where they needed to be cut, or where padding should be added so that we could see, talk, and be understood. When not doing that we fulfilled every performers dream pastime and simply stared at ourselves in the mirror. One of the first things I noticed was that because of the ears, head tilts were one of the best ways to express Messenio’s feelings. It also was most interesting if I made my neck as long as possible, when I combined the two, I felt like Messenio was becoming a puppy, but that didn’t make sense. Vez had specifically told us not to think of our characters, to just focus on the character the mask presented to us. That was easy, the mask was like a dumb, energetic, young monkey. But Messenio was old and wise. The two didn’t match, and I couldn’t figure out how I was going to make them match.

Things just got worse when we moved to 141 (the theatre classroom)  to find a physicality to match the mask. Again, we were told not to think of our character, just the mask.  So I did. Again I was coming up with a very bouncy monkey, and Vez kept challenging me to go more and more monkey-like with it. But with each extra flop of my arms, or bounce in my step I became more and more disheartened. How could I possibly play the character I saw in my head, with the young monkey like character that the mask, and Vez, were pushing me towards?

[concordiairvinetheatre]

The Menaechmus Diaries - Part 3

This “Diary Series” covers observations by CUI student Haley Brown as she prepared for the role of Messenio in our production of The Brothers Menaechmus - a Roman comedy by Plautus .  Her “behind the scenes” view covers theatre at Concordia, preparing a role with masks, and the hazards of a woman playing a man’s role:

Summer passed and the day of our first rehearsal came, and along with it all my jitters. “What was Vez thinking? I’m not funny, I shouldn’t be in a comedy! I can’t play a man at the college level, I mean sure I did it a bunch in high school, but that was high school! I can’t sing, I have to wear a dress, I’m not funny!” I walked through the door and was greeted by all my friends, and by boxes containing our masks. Well my jitters multiplied exponentially!

Slowly Vez revealed everyone’s mask, each one had a defining characteristic, a silly nose, or eyebrow, heavy make-up for the ladies, but what would Messenio have? Finely he pulled out my mask, and it was definitely different than everybody else’s. Mine was the only mask with ears. And we’re not talking cute little ears, we’re talking dumbo ears. In fact that was my first thought, “oh my gosh, I’m playing dumbo.” But the more I looked the more I was like “You know what, it kind of looks like a monkey. I like monkeys.” I think my favorite, and the most accurate comparison though is that my mask looks like Dopey, from Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

[concordiairvinetheatre]

The Menaechmus Diaries - Part 2

This “Diary Series” covers observations by CUI student Haley Brown as she prepared for the role of Messenio in our production of The Brothers Menaechmus - a Roman comedy by Plautus .  Her “behind the scenes” view covers theatre at Concordia, preparing a role with masks, and the hazards of a woman playing a man’s role:

I was ready to start rehearsals that night!  But the spring semester was coming to an end and I knew that I had theater camp to look forward to when the summer ended (“Theatre camp” is a magical time when casts return to campus to do nothing but rehearse without pesky worries like homework!). We received the scripts via email and were told to start learning our lines over the summer.

When I first read the play as Messenio I couldn’t help but notice how ridiculously “punny” he was. His humor was all word play, which made me happy because I’ve always enjoyed “intelligent humor” more than “slapstick.” Then I noticed his song.  His song!  I don’t sing. I’m not a singer. Well, this is awkward. I thought:  “Vez knows I don’t sing, right? He’s got a plan, right?” That’s what I kept asking myself.  After finally calming down from that frightening realization I began to fall more and more in love with Messenio. In my mind he was this, charming, witty, loyal, friendly, wise, old man. He may not be as agile physically, but his mind was far more agile than anyone else’s in the show. He may not always approve of Menaechmus, or his actions, but he loves him like a son and will stick by him no matter what. This is a character that I am going to enjoy playing … as long as I don’t have to sing!