The upcoming SUNY Oswego production "The Shape of Things," running Nov. 7 to 11 in Tyler Hall's Waterman Theatre. looks at love, choices and identity.
Director Mya Brown was familiar with the play, and thought its theme and small cast would fit well with the fall season.
"I thought, okay, we need something that's a smaller cast because of the renovations that are happening in Tyler Hall right now," said Brown, a member of the college's theatre faculty. "So, what could we do that's small cast, but will be really impactful, and 'The Shape of Things' immediately came to mind. I knew immediately if we were going to do a four-person cast, I want understudies."
The plot is a basic one, with a twist, that should resonate with college-aged audiences.
"Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl," Brown said. "So, boy makes some changes so that he can make sure that he keeps girl, and in the end, we wonder, are these changes actually for the better, or not?"
Cassandra Slough, a sophomore dual major in theatre and in cinema and screen studies, found the lead female role of Evelyn as an interesting challenge. I am cast as Evelyn, which is the lead female role.
" I would say she's an obsessed artist. A very driven artist as well," Slough said. Her character meets Adam and tries to shape him into the ideal boyfriend.
"Adam is very, very, very complex of a character," said senior theatre major Trey Thomas on his role in the understudy cast. "He goes from this little guy caught in the shell, to this big floundering fish just swimming in the ocean, like he goes through a really big transformation throughout the show."
Freshman theatre major Philip Jones, plays the character of Philip, Adam's friend, in the understudy cast. "He's very loud, and boisterous, and he has that kind of presence of I'm here, right," Jones said.
Stage manager Nicole Caroselli, a junior theatre major, said despite a small cast with two sets of four actors and a fairly simple setting, the production has plenty of complexity -- and rewards.
"In general it's a lot of fun to be able to see the entire process from the very, very start to the moment we take everything down," Caroselli said. "I love that. I've always loved watching the way the designs come together, and the way that the actors transform themselves during the actual show."
Brown said the understudy cast should expect a couple of performances during the production, to ensure everybody putting in the hard work gets experience out of it.
What should an audience expect? "I think they can expect to be thoroughly entertained," Brown said. "It's a really great play. I think the playwriting is exceptional. It's a great story."
"Come see it with an open mind, and ready to let it affect your perspective on different things," said Michaela Buckley, a junior theatre major who is the understudy for Evelyn. "Just come at it with an open mind, open heart."
The curtain rises on "The Shape of Things" at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 7 to 9, with 2 p.m. matinees on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 10 and 11. Tickets are $15 ($7 for students with a current SUNY Oswego ID) and are available at all SUNY Oswego box offices, the online tickets site at or by calling 315-312-3073.