As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

University of Central Oklahoma, 2017

Director: Emily Heugatter MFA

Lighting Design: Mitchell Laflin

Costume Design: Alyssa Couturier

Projection Design: Devin Scheef

Photos Courtesy of KT King

In this classic Shakespearian Comedy, a usurpation of power sees noble cousins Rosalind and Celia banished to the Forest of Arden, where life is simple and their former wealth and social status are meaningless.  Shakespeare's tried and true tools of gender swapping, mistaken identity, and cat-and-mouse chases all come into play as his characters seek their romantic pairings in their new home.

Shakespeare romanticizes the world of nature over the world of the court, but the play takes place in both locales.  A unit set consists of a large raked platform jutting out toward the audience, backed by a series of hanging plastic tarps that receive silhouetted projections contrasting an industrial city with a natural forest.   A series of traps in the platform and surrounding steps reveal additional plant life as the forest becomes an ever-more appealing home for its new residents.