Mount Saint Mary College’s theatre group will present The Miseducation of Isabella, an original comedy co-written by the cast, on Nov. 7, 8, and 9.
The performances, one per night, will take place at 7:30 p.m. on the Aquinas Hall stage, 330 Powell Ave., Newburgh. Admission is $5, or free with a Mount ID. Seating is extremely limited and reservations are highly recommended. For reservations, call the box office at (845) 569-3233.
Set in Elizabethan era England, The Miseducation of Isabella revolves around the students and faculty of Venice University, and their journeys through life, love, and getting good grades.
The Miseducation of Isabella is the fourth commedia dell’arte style (improvised) play Mount students have performed in the last decade under director James Phillips, associate professor of theatre. But it’s only the second, following 2017’s The Saviour of Venice, to use an original plot outline. The play has no script, even as the lines are being finalized during rehearsal.
After The Miseducation of Isabella is performed at the Mount in the coming weeks, it will be lost to time.
“That’s kind of what’s magical to me about theater,” Phillips explained. “It’s temporal. It exists in a moment. Our production of this can’t ever exist again. We’re creating something magical that has never existed and won’t exist again. To me, that’s really cool.”
Phillips views creativity as a form of problem solving, and said that creating The Miseducation of Isabella has been a series of creative problems the cast needed to solve in order to unlock the true potential of the show.
“It’s challenging but really good for them,” Phillips explained. “This process guarantees that you’re going to say things that aren’t funny, do things that don’t work, and you’re just going to have to work your way through it. What I want them to get out of this is that failure is not the end, but a new beginning point. Failure’s only a problem if you give up.”
The 11-member cast have surpassed Phillips’s expectations. Working with these dedicated students to create something special means quite a lot to him, he said.
“It’s a lot of hours at night, but it’s enjoyable work,” Phillips explained. “It’s the best part of my job.”