By Hadar Katsman, Staff Writer
Have you ever read Shakespeare in class? Well, the Yeshiva College Dramatic Society’s (YCDS) production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again!] is sure to be different from your high school teacher’s lecture. Prepare yourself for an exciting night as YCDS puts a comedic twist on all of Shakespeare’s works.
Since the beginning of November 2024, YCDS has been hard at work preparing for their upcoming production, which will take place at the end of March. Ronnie Hidary (YC ‘25), Shneur Levy (YC ‘25) and Kiki Arochas (YC ‘25), the three lead actors, will soon be ready to take the stage.
“Shakespeare has way more plays than anyone thought about,” Yosef Siegel, Assistant Director of the YCDS production, told the YU Observer. “There’s a lot of comedic potential in Shakespeare’s writing itself.”
The production is a three man show of practically all of Shakespeare’s plays. Hidary, Levy and Arochas will each act as different characters from Shakespeare’s plays, accompanied by a lot of slapstick humor catered towards the Yeshiva University audience.
“The whole point is for it to be very fast paced humor,” Hidary told the YU Observer of the show. Each actor plays many characters throughout the production, so the cast is constantly running on and off stage in order to change costumes. “The comedic timing is key and the interplay between our characters is always present,” he said.
Hidary said performing in a comedic production is just as fulfilling to him as acting in any other type of show. “You just want to make people laugh, make people smile, and that’s just as fulfilling,” he said.
Professor Reuven Russell is in his nineteenth year teaching at YU and his fourth year directing the YCDS play. Russell commutes to YU from New Haven four nights a week and is always present for rehearsal, taking notes and consulting with the cast.
“I love directing theater. I love working with the students at YU,” Russell told the YU Observer. “Whoever has gone to a play and walked out feeling inspired, that’s the feeling that motivates me to continue to do the work that I do here at YU.”
Hidary said that from the perspective of the students, as a director, Russell is “our guiding light.”
Russell said that putting on a comedy can be difficult, because it requires a lot of attention to executing the jokes well. “If you don’t hit the mark with comedy, well you know what it’s like to hear a bad joke,” Russell said.
Russell added that in addition to the complexity of performing jokes well, the actors have to make sure that the play itself runs smoothly. “It’s almost like a marathon,” he said. “The pace has to be quick, timing has to be precise.”
The production will take place on the Wilf campus in the Schottenstein Theater. Meir Hass (YC ‘27), YCDS’s set designer and technical director, has been building the set since the beginning of the spring semester. Hass told the YU Observer that “YU security gets a kick out of it” when he has to transport massive props across campus.
The set design process takes hours. In order to construct the set, Hass had to read the script, look for inspiration from previous shows and create 3D models online before he could build the set. With the assistance of a friend, Hass transformed the entire stage into an Elizabethan era set to fit the Shakespearean time period.
“You’re given a lot of freedom and creativity to do what you want,” Hass said of the role of the production staff. “Yes there is a bigger team, but you get to do your own thing within this club and find something you’re passionate about.”
He explained that many people often don’t want to be involved in YCDS because they’re not interested in acting, not realizing there are other ways to be a part of the play. While Hass emphasized that he doesn’t like acting, he enjoys building things and is grateful to pursue this joy of his through YCDS.
Much of the crew sees YCDS as an opportunity to invest their creativity into an environment they likely wouldn’t get to participate in outside of YU. “I feel like we get together every year and we create something that you cannot see in Jewish entertainment anywhere else,” Betzalel Cohen (YC ‘25), the YCDS President, told the YU Observer.
Betzalel added that acting has always been a part of his life and is something he is very happy to be a part of. “We’re all fake to a certain extent, and the theater is that one place where you’re actually able to go ahead and say, ‘Let’s take the mask off,’” he said. “This is the one place where you’re able to make believe and make pretend and act like you’re not supposed to, be a little crazy and do things that you never would do in the socio-normative society.”
The upcoming YCDS play is sure to bring everyone a good laugh and an opportunity to witness famous historical plays in a whole new comedic light. The cast and crew have not only put together an amazing production, but formed a strong bond between participating members in the process.
“I’ve had the best times being part of a cast,” Hidary said. “It feels like you’re part of something bigger than yourself, and performing for a crowd, it’s fulfilling.”
Be sure to go see the Yeshiva College Dramatics Society’s production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) [Revised] [Again!]” on March 30, 31, April 1 and 2.
Tickets can be purchased here: https://yeshiva.campusgroups.com/YCDS/
Photo Caption: The set of the YCDS play
Photo Credit: YCDS