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KANSAN.COM
ARTS & CULTURE
NYC actors bring 'Julius Caesar,' 'X' to Lied Center
(From left to right) Gabriel Lawrence as Julius Caesar, Jimonn Cole as Malcolm X, Joshua David Robinson as Casca and William Sturdivant as Bootblack
Contributed photos
COURTNEY BIERMAN
@courtbierman
A New York City acting troupe is in Lawrence to perform two plays at the Lied Center focused on prominent leaders who were killed by people they once trusted. 10 actors from The Acting Company performed Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. and "X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation," on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. "X," a play by Marcus Gardley, is about the life and assassination of civil rights activist Malcolm X. Both plays feature the same all-black cast of 10 actors.
The first performance tells the story of Caesar's
rise and fall as a group of politicians come together under his tyrannical rule. For "X," the performance includes Malcolm X's death at the hands of a member of the Nation of Islam who presumably conspired with others whom he would not identify.
"Julius Caesar" was directed by Devon Brain. It is a more modern adaptation than some audience members may be used to, according to Lied Center Executive Director Derek Kwan.
"X" was commissioned specifically by The Acting Company, and had its world premiere last month. By reimaging Malcolm X's death through the lens of "Julius Caesar," actor Joshua David Robinson
said more insight is offered into the ways in which history tends to repeat itself when it comes to the fall of powerful leaders.
"There's very little evil in the world, I think is what our play tries to depict," said Robinson, who plays Casca and Titinius in "Caesar" and Eugene Robertson in "X." "But there are people who are in a set of circumstances and make choices based on those circumstances that they think are going to lead to a beneficial outcome."
The Acting Company is in the final year of a three-year educational partnership with University Theatre. The cast and crew will visit an audition techniques class, as well as a weekly
stage managers meeting to do workshops and offer advice to students in the theatre department. The University is the company's first stop on their tour of the Kansas City-centered residency consortium, which includes three other schools in the region. All of the University's theatre students get to attend the plays.
The residency is part of a new touring model The Acting Company designed to be more engaged with the communities it performs in. Actor William Sturdivant, who plays Cassius in "Julius Caesar" and a narrator in "X," is on his fourth tour with the company, but his third with the new model. He said that the first tour was
a blur of small towns and uncomfortable buses. With this model, the actors get to meet the people they're performing for, who are in turn more in-tune with the performance.
"For them, there's a different engagement that happens when you are connected to a performer or performance," Sturdivant said. "There's like an opening that you make. You're already with the show in a way, and so you are able to engage with it in a much more fuller way than if you just came to it without knowing anyone or anything about it."
Black actors don't often get the chance to perform in classical theatre. Sturdivant said, which also makes this production of
"Julius Caesar" special. He said that he rarely got to see live theatre growing up, and when he did the actors were almost always white. He said he sees this performance as a chance to empower other black children and aspiring actors.
"This is why I do theatre, this type of piece," he said. "It really is transformative, like life - you don't just touch people with the performance. You actually engage them with their lives, and that's what art should do."
More ticket information for "Caeser" and "X: Or, Betty Shabazz v. The Nation" is available on the Lied Center's website.
Emily Taylor Center to host talks about transgender studies
BRITTANIE SMITH
@britters__smith
The Emily Taylor Center for Women and Gender Equity is holding a spring Lunch and Learn series to discuss various topics related to transgender studies. It held its first session on Feb.13 on the history of the field and will have four more sessions that will delve deeper into current topics on Feb.27, Mar. 27, April 10, and May 5, all from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.
The topics that will be covered include pop culture and media representation in Feb. "fight the system" in March, personal narratives and trans styles of writing in April and a web series viewing party in May.
A graduate student involved with the Emily Taylor Center, An Sasala was in charge of bringing this monthly series to the center and will be hosting the events as well.
Sasala said the events will help awareness because most of the time when trans topics are talked about in classrooms, it's
based on issues with bathroom identification, and there is more importance to the topic than that.
"I really want people to take away that gender is fluid and it's fun and it's messy, but especially when it comes to transgender and non-binary identities. I really want them to walk away knowing something they didn't know before," Sasala said.
I really want people to take away that gender is fluid and it's fun and it's messy."
An Sasala Graduate student
Sasala's main reason for moving forward with this series is because they said while taking courses in this field of study for about six years, they have been frustrated that in their time there was only one day dedicated to trans studies, so they took action.
The Emily Taylor Center will be providing copies of the texts covered during the lunches for free, but they ask that you bring your own lunch for this hourlong discussion. Anyone who is a student or works for the University is welcome to join.
"I can't speak to the undergraduate experience, but as one of the few non-binary graduate students, it can be really alienating, people don't respect your pronouns. They just don't quite understand that you can be struggling with certain things because they just don't see them," Sasala said.
Sasala said they hope it will be a place for personal learning for the students that attend, whether they are trans, non-binary, or not. Sasala aims for it being a place to discuss problems that exist on campus and use that to help build a more solidified community at the University.
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