The McMaster Daily News

McMaster thespians cast Arabian spell

November 08, 2005

McMaster thespians will cast an Arabian spell on Hamilton beginning this Friday.

In the upcoming production The Arabian Nights, seven McMaster students and employees will take to the Waterdown Village Theatre stage to present Arabian Nights - a play that involves a selection of historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and Muslim religious legends.

"Community theatre not only serves the community by providing an engaging forum for storytelling and celebration but it helps to form a community; bringing people together from diverse backgrounds and experience to work on a common project with an open mind and charitable heart," says Deborah McIvor, communications officer in McMaster's Office of Student Financial Aid & Scholarships, who plays several roles in the production, including that of music director. "It is an expression of creativity and an aspect of volunteering that sometimes is overlooked. With a bit of talent and time to offer, you can find it quite fulfilling to get involved with your local theatre group - and you will most likely find you have many new friendships that continue on in your life afterward."

McIvor, who graduated in 2002 from McMaster with a combined Honours B.A. in Multimedia and Drama, is a flute player and singer/songwriter. She came to McMaster with an applied music diploma from Mohawk College and has been involved with music and theatre since the 1980s.

She is putting all of her areas of expertise to good use in The Arabian Nights. As music director, she researched Arabic, Indian, Turkish and Lebanese modes, rhythms and melodies, composed original pieces or arranged music for the many songs and dances in the play, collaborating with and rehearsing a musical ensemble of five musicians and cast of almost 20. And what an unusual collection of instruments they play. Sitar, violin, tablas, doumbek, flutes & whistles, recorders, dulcimer, tamboura, mandolin, and a harmonium are only the beginning of the instruments they play. McIvor also sings in the play, and takes part in some dance numbers.

Director of the production, Lisbie Rae, has maintained a strong connection to McMaster since graduating with an honours degree in dramatic arts and French. She taught acting here during the eighties and nineties, before moving on to complete her doctorate in Toronto. She now teaches acting at the University of Guelph. Rae and her husband, Micheal Rae (producer) were a part of the founding group that formed Waterdown Village Theatre in 1972.

Theresa Cooke, director of Student Accounts & Cashiers, is the stage manager of the production, keeping the large cast and crew on task and helping organize a vibrant show composed of several varied stories ranging from comedic to dangerous and seductive. Cooke has worked with Village Theatre for more than 10 years, more recently taking on the role of director for The Wizard of Oz in 2002.

McMaster students Heba Botros and Viva Nsair were able to help the show find authenticity in their roles as Arabic advisors, helping with pronunciation and Egyptian and Lebanese customs. Nsair, a second-year student in biochemistry, fascinated cast members by showing a video she had of a modern Arabic wedding, helping director and cast decide how to stage the weddings in the show, and instructing the men on how to dance the Lebanese "debke". Botros, a third-year religious studies student, was present at many rehearsals to assist in music selection, text interpretations and cultural customs.

As a communications studies high school enrichment student studying at McMaster, Nicole Bedford takes on many roles in the show, as do the rest of the ensemble, singing, dancing, acting and performing acrobatics in several mini-scenes that are derived from the collection of Middle Eastern stories in the literary masterpiece The Book of One Thousand and One Nights.

Nea Reid, currently completing her studies in theatre & film studies and women's studies, is the star of the ensemble show. She plays Scheherazade, the central storyteller of the piece, who must keep telling cliff-hanger stories to prolong her life for another day. Reid is no stranger to the stage, having played the Virgin Mary in last year's McMaster production of The Destruction of Eve which had the distinction of performing at the prestigious Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland.

Nea Reid, a McMaster student, and Mike Wierenga, a Hamilton resident & regular performer with Waterdown Village Theatre, perform during a dress rehearsal of Arabian Nights.

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