The gentleman, Monsieur Jourdain, is coming to Mason! George Mason’s annual Spring play, The Bourgeois Gentleman by Molière, starts on April 23. For three days, the actors, singers, dancers and musicians will be putting up a show with a great help from the director Mr. Shawn Northrip, the technical director Mr. John Ballou, stage crew, and other students involved.
The play will start at 7:30 p.m. at GM auditorium, and the tickets will be $5 for students and $10 for general admission. It is undecided whether there will be an intermission yet; it will be determined as soon as the duration of the play is determined.
Northrip, the director, shared his words about how he decided to do this play: “I chose this play, in part, because I was looking for a comedy, but also a play with a lot of people in it. Unfortunately, most comedies have about a dozen roles (or less!). I read a bunch of comedies before coming to this one. It seemed to have a lot of things I loved; plus an opportunity to integrate singers and musicians into the spring play,” said Northrip.
The Bourgeois Gentleman is a comedy with various styles of dance and a plot that constantly provokes laughter.
“This play is really funny. It’s about a man who is born into a middle class family. He isn’t smart but has a lot of money, and tries to associate himself with nobility and people of quality. He ends up making a fool out of himself, and people take advantage of him,” said freshman Michael Curtin who plays the role of the first shepherd. “People should come watch it because it’s a very funny show.”
A small band composed of student musicians will be playing music composed by two Mason students, seniors Arijeet Sensharma and Alex Smith who played the role of Raoul and Christine in Mason’s previous annual Fall musical, The Phantom of the Opera.
“I think we [band] have mastered the basics. We still have to get the style and figure out how to play with the right mood, but overall we are making progress and sound really good,” said French Horn player and sophomore Lucy Hoak.
All students involved in this play are staying after school almost everyday, rehearsing for nearly three hours.
“The play is hilarious and really fun to work on! It’s an old play but people shouldn’t avoid it based on that because the humor is definitely up-to-date. Also, rehearsals are going really well. Everyone involved is putting a lot of energy into making the production the best it can be. People should come see this play because we’ve been working really hard on it and it’s going to be a great show,” said sophomore and stage manager Annie Parnell.
