HutchCC’s theatre department prepares performance of the Scottish play: Macbeth

By Mason Poepperling / Staff writer

Hutchinson Community College has a proud history of theatrical performance, a tradition that it continues to carry on with the theater department’s upcoming rendition of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”.

A tale of a Scottish general’s descent into madness through corruption and power, Deidre Mattox, HutchCC’s Director of Theater, looks forward to audiences witnessing what they’ve put together.

“I’m excited for the audience to experience one of Shakespeare’s most beloved tragedies with a modern spin, Mattox said.

Of course, choosing a play from Shakespeare’s vast collection of classics is not as simple as drawing one out a hat. There are many different hoops that Mattox and the theater department had to jump through before settling on the right one.

“We have production meetings near the middle of the previous semester with all other performance faculty to choose performance dates,” Mattox said. “Then I meet with Shane Dawson, our Technical Director and Production Manager, and we select shows for the upcoming semester.”

After the selection process, rehearsals begin. Bringing one of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays to life requires more practice than your average play in order to bring the 400-year-old play to life in a way that’s enjoyable to the general public.

“Shakespeare generally requires more rehearsal and more adaptation of the original scripts in order to cut the play – Shakespeare’s plays are longer than most modern plays – and consolidate characters,” Mattox said.

All of this and more is what goes into the best possible performance the theater department can do.

HutchCC’s performance of “Macbeth” at 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 and Oct. 8, along with an Oct. 9 matinee at 2 p.m.

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