College of Saint Mary welcomes a new artist-in-residence, and a newly commissioned Shakespeare-inspired play

College of Saint Mary welcomes Marshall B Garrett as artist-in-residence for the spring semester of 2017. “This is my first time working exclusively as an artist in residence,” says Garrett.

Garrett has previously served as a guest artist, and has worked in artist-management positions but says that to be exclusively a guest artist-in-residence is a new experience. The theatre director, Shakespearean scholar and instructor is excited to see how the semester unfolds.

“It’s a complex position,” he says, “as it calls for me to engage both as artist and instructor.”

Garrett served as production manager & resident director for the Milburn Stone Theater, where he directed “Twelfth Night”, “The Tempest”, A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “As You Like It”, and “Forever Plaid.” Among his numerous other productions, he also directed plays at the Capital Fringe Festival; Emerging Artist(s) Project; the Mobtown Players; American Shakespeare Center; and Sweet Wag Shakespeare.

The artist-in-residence position at CSM brings a dual responsibility, says Garrett.

“It demands that I both engage as fully as I can in the artistic communities of both CSM and Omaha, as well as bring my own experiences and expertise to the students and staff in the production that I’m directing.”

Garrett will teach theater production class at CSM, sharing his experiences as a director trained in Shakespearean performances. He will also incorporate some of that training into the student theatrical experience. At the end of the semester, Garrett will direct the theater production class students in “Sweet are the Uses”, which he commissioned for the CSM students. It’s being written by playwright Merlyn Q. Sell – and William Shakespeare.

“I almost always cast more women than a script that I’m doing inherently calls for, and that’s quite deliberate,” says Garrett. “So I loved when this opportunity came up, when one of the conditions that it was an all-female show.”

Commissioning a feature that includes only female players was a perfect fit not only for the class, but for the CSM production, as well. It also contains some interesting and complex twists in the dialogue.

“The text of the play is really remarkable,” says Garrett. “The prologue is a mixed parody of both the opening speech from “Henry V” and the theme song from “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”

But he adds that most of the dialogue are lines from Shakespeare, sourced from the entire canon.

“There’s one particularly remarkable speech that begins with a song from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, moves to King Lear being reunited with his daughter, moves to Coriolanus’ mother, a brief line from “As You Like It’s” wrestler, then shifts to Juliet’s Nurse, Leonato at his daughter’s wedding in “Much Ado about Nothing”, then back to “As You Like It”, then back to the Nurse, and finally to the good Duke in “As You Like It”.

Garrett says he’s probably leaving something out. But the entire play is structured that same way, he adds, “and it’s seamless!”

The play is set in the Forest of Arden, where five of Shakespeare’s erstwhile heroines have sought safety after being banished from court by an authoritarian and corrupt Duke. The five meet in the forest and work to overcome obstacles, until they prove “Sweet are the uses of adversity,” a line from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” The finale provides a crescendo of forgiveness, redemption and joy.

Garrett is positive the semester’s experience will be rewarding for everyone.

”A truly great artist-in-residence experience is one where everyone leaves greater than they were – including me.”

Story by Chris Kasel, Media Relations Coordinator