Concordia theatre department delivers impressive “King Lear” performance

King Lear (Jordan Hagemann) weeps over the corpse of his daughter Cordelia (Lucy Eggleston) in Concordia’s production of “King Lear”.

Photo Credit: Adreanna Pronschinske

By Adreanna Pronschinske

The Concordia’s Theatre Arts Department held the opening performance of their annual mainstage fall play, Shakespeare’s “King Lear”, in Weller Auditorium on Friday night, leaving the audience “impressed” with the performance despite the challenging nature of the play.

Bryan Moore, Professor of Communication and Theatre Arts, directed the play.

Senior Marieka Broudy said she watched a performance of “King Lear” this summer, but the actors in Concordia’s production did it better in her opinion.

Broudy is usually more involved with theatre-related productions and events at Concordia as a member of the Curtain Club, but she was unable to participate in the production this year due to other responsibilities.

“I have so much I need to do since it’s my senior year and I just don’t have time,” Broudy said. “(But) It was fun getting to see all my friends and getting to actually watch a show for once, you know?”

Emily Horacek, mother of senior theatre major Claire Horacek, who played the Earl of Kent in the show, said she loves watching her daughter act.

“I always think she’s the best one, so she is really fun to watch,” Horacek said. “She directs a lot now, so it’s rarer to see her act.”

Horacek said one of the main reasons Claire chose to come to Concordia was because of the “care and attention” from Moore in mentoring her from the start.

“I’m so impressed with the performances that Bryan draws out of all these kids,” Horacek said. “I was really impressed with her friend Sarah’s performance. It was so brilliantly funny. It’s like she’s not acting and she’s actually a fool right now.”

Junior Morgan Davis, a theatre and secondary education major and the assistant director, said he was very happy with how everything turned out.

“Lear is a challenging show to do, but I think our actors and everybody did a very good job,” said Davis. “This is a show you have to put in a lot of work for, especially to get some of the key themes across. I think our actors really put their heart and soul into their characters.”

Davis also explained his role as assistant director, audition process and the amount of preparation required on the stage and behind the scenes leading up to the performance.

“Whenever Bryan is directing the show, I’ll be assisting him in any way I can. Sometimes giving specific instructions to actors,” Davis said.

Davis said he was glad to gain some experience in directing.

“I hope to teach theatre. This is my first big taste of being able to do that, and I think it has encouraged me a lot on what I want to do,” Davis said.

Davis had many responsibilities, including choreographing the fight scenes and helping backstage.

“I got to be the fight choreographer for this show which was a lot of fun because stage combat is kind of the reason I fell in love with theatre in the first place,” said Davis. “Getting to teach that to others and getting to see what they did with it was a lot of fun.”