Theatre department grows with new faces

By Nicole Barhorst
Transcript Reporter

With more freshmen intending to major or minor in theater than in past years at Ohio Wesleyan University, the October production of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” will feature a host of new faces.

One of these new faces will be Zoë Rosenthal, a freshman intending to minor in theater, who said she most enjoys the technical side of theater.

“I did props and set design in high school and loved it,” Rosenthal said. “I get stage fright so I like to be backstage and out of the limelight.”

Rosenthal said her favorite play is Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” but she likes modern musicals as well.

Freshman Matthew Pheneger said he intends to major in theater, and prefers acting over all other aspects of theater because “it’s the most fun.”

Among his favorite plays are Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie” by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan and “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde. He said he does not have a preference between older plays and more modern productions.

Pheneger said he likes that OWU’s theatre and dance department is small compared to other schools because “having like sixty kids per class is counterproductive.”

OWU’s production of “The Merchant of Venice”—directed by Elane Denny-Todd—will be performed Oct. 8, 9, 10, and 11 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. Admission will be $5 for faculty and staff, $10 for the general public and free for OWU students with a valid ID.

According to the department’s website, “The Merchant of Venice” is a “classic comedy of loyalty, love, greed, disguise and justice” that takes place in a “money-mad world where no one is truly innocent.”