The University Classic Players in

Directed & Designed By

Jeffrey Stegall

Lighting Design by Original Music by

Richard Streeter Kenon Renfrow
CAST OF CHAR ACTERS
THE MINOLAS: A wealthy family of Padua City, Wyoming
Baptista, the father. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Steve Skaggs
Katherina, his elder daughter, the shrew. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Annette Pait
Bianca, his younger daughter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jessica Bowers
Baptista’s servant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Russell

SUITORS TO BIANCA
Gremio, a rich, old gentleman and suitor to Bianca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brad Payne
Hortensio, another suitor to Bianca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Cox

VISITORS FROM PISA

Lucentio, a gentleman of Pisa, in love with Bianca. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Luke Hollis
Tranio, his servant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nathan Young
Biondello, his servant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sterling Street
Vincentio, Lucentio’s father . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Layton Talbert

PETRUCHIO’S HOUSEHOLD
Petruchio, suitor to Katherina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Philip Eoute
Grumio, his servant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Colton Beach
Curtis, another servant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brent Hanson
Other servants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marcus Blanchard, Nick DelVecchio, Wilbur Mauk
Stacey Romig, Margaret Stegall, Emily Weier
OTHERS IN THE STORY
A Widow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meredith Hamilton
A Pedant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cameron Smith
A Tailor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellis Schoolfield
A Haberdasher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daniel Dupea
Townspeople & children
Stephen Bartholomew, Marcus Blanchard, Ashley Klaire Darst,
Nick DelVecchio, Daniel Dupea, Brent Hanson, Wilbur Mauk,
Shannon Miller, John Davis McCarty, Stacey Romig,
Margaret Stegall, Emily Weier

SETTING OF THE PLAY

The play takes place in Padua City, Wyoming, circa 1880 and
at Petruchio’s country house somewhere on the Yukon Trail.
PRODUCTION STAFF
Producer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Darren Lawson
Choreographer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Fisher
Assistant to the Director. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ellis Schoolfield
Production Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rodney McCarty
Costume/Makeup/Hair Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dan Sandy
Scenic Artist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Waggoner
Assistant Production Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dale Burden
Assistant to the Production Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sandy Jaworski
Costume Construction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ruth Bartholomew, Becky Sandy
Wigmaster. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alicia Carr
Props Master. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C.J. McElhiney
Stage Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joshua Wright
Technical Engineer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Micha Moyer
Audio Supervisor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bob Johansen
POSING AND SUPPOSING:
Role-Playing and Reality in The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew during the period of his early
comedies, around 1593–94, a period in which one of his most persistent themes
is relationships between men and women. Shrew is a rich, witty portrayal of the
battle of the sexes, waged between and among well-drawn characters in two
plots, the main plot and the subplot. By the end of the play Shakespeare has
taken his audience beyond these superficial conflicts to an engaging and time-
less consideration of love and happiness.

In all of his comedies and many of his tragedies Shakespeare calls attention to
the contrast between what a person or situation may appear to be on the surface
and what it is in reality. These contexts seem to suggest that in order to avoid
mistaking appearance for true essence, a person must carefully look beyond
externals. “Supposing” or presuming that something is true is a risky business
in a world in which people and situations have a way of turning out to be the
opposite of what we might expect.

Such is the world of The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare drew several features
of this delightful comedy from George Gascoigne’s Supposes (1566), an English
prose version of an Italian play by Ariosto titled I Suppositi (1509). In the play’s
prologue Gascoigne defines the title of his comedy of deceit and misunder-
standing: “This our ‘Supposes’ is nothing else but a mistaking or imagination
of one thing for another.”

As the action of The Taming of the Shrew unfolds, various characters pose as or
take on the identity of other characters by means of external disguise. Their
outward counterfeiting is carried out for the cause of love. Other characters
appear in their own clothing but in personality guises that do not reflect their
true inner essence.

The wealthy Baptista Minola has two daughters—Katherina, who is reputed to

be a quick-tempered woman with a spiteful tongue, and Bianca, who is equally
well-known as Katherina’s sweet, soft-spoken younger sibling. All of the physical
impostors in Shrew appear in Shakespeare’s simple subplot, the story of Bianca
and her suitors.

Bianca is sought after by a swarm of admirers, but Baptista will not make a
match for her until he has found a husband for Katherina. This fatherly
prohibition motivates three characters to disguise themselves for the purpose of
winning Bianca’s hand in marriage. Two of them take on the roles of
schoolmasters so they can be near Bianca to woo her in secret. Lucentio, who
falls in love with Bianca at first sight, just after arriving in Padua to study at the
univeristy, disguises himself as a Latin tutor named Cambio. Hortensio,
Lucentio’s major rival for Bianca’s affections, disguises himself as a music
teacher named Litio. Both men also employ a kind of verbal disguise as they
express their love to Bianca in flowery, artificial terms.

While Lucentio appears in the external guise of “Cambio,” his clever servant
Tranio delights to wear his master’s clothing and present himself as a man of
social rank to Bianca’s father. Tranio’s intent is to strike a bargain with Baptista
for Bianca’s betrothal to his master and to distract the other suitors while
Lucentio addresses Bianca directly.

The role-playing and disguise in the Bianca subplot perfectly complement the
action and characterization of the main plot in Shrew—Petruchio’s wooing,
wedding and taming of Katherina, a woman known for her independent spirit
and scolding tongue. Instead of the disguise motif, Shakespeare presents more
complex personality masking in the Petruchio–Katherina plot.

In the play’s first three acts, Kate appears as an ill-tempered, unreasonable

woman. Certainly she is not a good candidate for the quiet life Petruchio
professes to want in his marriage. But Shrew is an unusual romantic comedy in
that its action extends two full acts beyond the wedding of Petruchio and Kate.
By the end of this extension, Kate has become an ideal wife in word and deed, so
much so that we suspect the irritable, hateful woman of the earlier scenes was
merely a role that Kate played well.

The opposite is true of Kate’s sister, Bianca. Her father and her suitors suppose
from her seemingly compliant nature that she is a meek woman who will make
a loyal, submissive wife for the man fortunate enough to win her. Throughout
the plot, however, Shakespeare offers the audience clues that foreshadow the
revelation of Bianca’s true character at the play’s conclusion.
Similarly, when Petruchio presents himself to Baptista as a suitor to Kate, he
appears to be a fortune hunter rather than a man who will bring joy and
fulfillment to Kate as a husband. But Petruchio quickly recognizes that Kate’s
shrewish behavior belies her true nature and worth. He then constructs a well-
calculated plan for leading Kate to see herself as others see her. Shakespeare
also gradually minimizes the audience’s initial impression of Petruchio as a
mercenary ruffian by contrasting his behavior to that of the deceptive suitors
who bid for Bianca in an increasingly selfish, ridiculous manner as if she were
a commodity.

By the end of the play we see Petruchio as a romantic hero. To the delight of the
audience, his blunt, unromantic wooing culminates in the play’s witty finale,
wherein Kate speaks about marriage as the spouse of the best husband in the
house. As we marvel at the transformation of Kate, whose energy and intelli-
gence have not diminished a whit, Shakespeare reminds us that such miracles
can be wrought only through the genuine transforming power of love.

Janie Caves McCauley, PhD

Taming of the Shrew
WEBCAST
November 21 at 8 p.m.
[Link]/live
 RODEHEAVER AUDITORIUM
Nov. 20 and 21 at 8 p.m. | Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

A cowbell will be rung and lobby lights will flash three minutes before the end of intermission.
PP003 (17742) 10/14

After the houselights are dimmed following intermission, no one will be readmitted to his seat.

Cameras and recording equipment are not permitted in the auditorium during any performance.
We request that signal watches and all communication devices be turned off during the program.