The cast of Sacramento State’s Theatre and Dance department has rigorously prepared to perform one of William Shakespeare’s well-known comedies, “Twelfth Night.”

Michelle Felten, theatre and dance professor and director of “Twelfth Night,” said this play is a beguiling tale of cross-dressing, mistaken identity, and the pursuit of love.

“‘Twelfth Night’ is about twins, Viola and Sebastian, who are separated when their ship capsizes,” Felten said. “Viola washes ashore, disguises herself as a boy servant named Cesario and takes a position with Duke Orsino’s court.”

Viola as Cesario is secretly in love with Orsino. She then woos the Countess Olivia, Orsino’s object of affection.

Trina Kruger, senior theater major who plays Olivia, said “Twelfth Night” is about the characters being in love and what they are willing to do to prove it.

“Viola has to dress like a man and woo another woman for a man she’s in love with to be loyal (to him),” Kruger said.

The play “Twelfth Night” also has a subplot that involves Maria, Olivia’s right-hand woman and Malvolio, Olivia’s steward.

Mayette Villanueva, senior theater major who plays Maria, said her character comes up with a plot to write a letter to Malvolio, imitating Olivia’s penmanship. Maria attempts to make a fool out of Malvolio because of his self-centered personality.

“It’s like the attack of wits,” Villanueva said. “Maria tells Malvolio to dress up in funny stockings because (shes says) Olivia is secretly in love (with him).”

John Young, sophomore theater major who plays Malvolio, said his character’s name is translated as “ill-willed.”

“He’s kind of a prick,” Young said. “I wouldn’t say he’s the antagonist or the villain. He’s just mean to everybody and people want revenge.”

Felten said after the incident with Malvolio, Sebastian comes back into the picture and all the plots and secrets are revealed.

“Twin brother Sebastian shows up and is mistaken for Viola, who is still disguised as Cesario, and unintentionally wins the heart of Olivia,” Felten said. “Light mayhem ensues.”

Jesse Heckendorf, junior liberal studies major, saw “Twelfth Night” and said his favorite scene in the play is when Malvolio receives the fake letter.

“I always liked Shakespeare,” Heckendorf said. “The letter scene with Malvolio’s facial expressions are hilarious. The play is overall humorous and entertaining.”

Felten said “Twelfth Night” has 12 main characters, unlike many of Shakespeare’s plays that usually have five main characters.”It’s hard to tell who the lead is,” Felten said. “In this play, almost every role has something substantial to do.”

Kruger said she tried out for “Twelfth Night” because she loves being in shows directed by Felten. She was in last fall’s production of “Picnic” and said she wanted to take on a Shakespearean piece this semester.

“I’ve always been interested by the (Shakespearean) language because it’s intimidating. I’ve done a lot of work being the side character who’s comedic and Olivia’s different,” Kruger said. “She’s not the funny best friend kind of character. She’s something I wouldn’t typically play.”

Felten believes that Shakespeare’s language provides a challenge that her students would not normally get in a modern play.

“It’s a much more complicated way of speaking than we speak now. It has a romantic and very passionate feel to it,” Felten said.

In helping to prepare the cast for “Twelfth Night,” Felten had them practice meter, verse, and prose.

David Chernyavsky, junior theater major who plays Orsino, said he has done a lot of research for the play because his character speaks in verse instead of prose for the entire show.

“We looked at the language and we got a dictionary and looked up every part and line we didn’t get,” Chernyavsky said. “There are operative words like verbs and nouns you need to stress in a phrase or sentence.”Villanueva said she feels “Twelfth Night” requires more commitment because of the language.

“If you don’t understand what you’re saying, then the audience won’t understand,” Villanueva said. “Shakespeare is literal and if you just picture what he describes you’ll get it.”

Elizabeth Fernandez, an audience member, said she had no trouble following the play because the performers did a great job acting out the scenes.

“If you don’t understand the words, you get the actors’ actions and then it makes sense,” Fernandez said.

Jennifer Siopongco can be reached at [email protected]