Our American Cousin

Director Mike Calderone chose to put on “Our American Cousin” for a few reasons. The show, he explained, “has a fairly large cast with an ensemble that has at least a few lines for the smaller roles…and I wanted it to be a comedy.” Additionally, Calderone appreciated the historical significance of “Our American Cousin”: “This was the play that was performed at Ford's Theater when President Lincoln was assassinated…[while Lincoln] and his wife were in essence celebrating the imminent end of the Civil War with the comedy smash hit of the decade.”

Though the show was once well known, some of the actors had not known about it before. Beatrix Vassilev ’27, who plays main character Florence Trenchard, admitted that she “had no idea what it was” when she found out “Our American Cousin” was going to be the show. However, once rehearsals started and she got to know the show better, she “really [liked] it” and thought it was “pretty funny.” She did have difficulty, though, with comprehending some of the dialogue. Vassilev admits that due to the age of the play it was “kind of difficult to understand some of the lines that I say because some of them use humor that is…old… [and] have phrasing that we wouldn’t understand.” Jack Beauclair ’27, who plays Abel Murcott, acknowledged that “Our American Cousin” is “not easy to understand in the same way that a modern play would be.” Similarly, Calderone said “the biggest challenge is making this 160 year old comedy actually funny for a modern audience.” Though the show is not currently “considered high comedy…it [used to be] wildly popular.” However, by cutting “the [jokes] we thought were redundant or obvious,” he believes that HDA’s performance will appeal to newer generations. 

There have also been difficulties scenically. “APAC has what's called a half-fly house…[which] can only hide short painted backdrops and not full scenery,” Calderone explained. Technical Director David Kenton and the technical crew worked hard to overcome this obstacle. Kenton said the crew worked on “hiding some scenic elements…that will be flown in for certain scenes…[though] masking those set pieces [was] tricky.” Crew member Susie Becker ’28 also noted that the scenery utilizes flats, which are upright “flat pieces of wood that have supports behind them” which can then be painted to create scenery. She said that much of the crew “has not built this kind of set before.”

The set incorporates other interesting elements. Becker described the set: “[it] has three separate rooms, and it has walls that are on hinges.” Kenton said the crew gave “each room its own style and vibe, while using common colors to thread everything together.” Beyond the set itself, costumes also helped to create the world of “Our American Cousin.” Calderone said “newly hired costume designer Jaysen Engle…found all of the Victorian period costumes,” some of which “include voluminous hoop skirts.” To help the actors “get used to the size of their skirts…[the actors] wear the hooped petticoats during rehearsals. They're literally just white, floor-length skirts with three or four hula-hoops sewn into them, but the actors love them,” Calderone recounted. “Trying on my costume was so fun,” said Vassilev. “All the costumes are so beautiful this year.” 

The amount of work put into the show was tremendous. Leading up to the performances, Calderone reflected on what he wished to remind the audience of with HDA’s “Our American Cousin”: “[the show] has always seemed to me to be the missing piece of the Lincoln assassination…We forget that the tragedy came from a piece of theater that was joyous and full of laughter.”