Audiences become part of the performance as the Hilo Palace Theater brings William Shakespeare’s “CAESAR” to life.
Many of Hilo’s artists, actors, multimedia producers and stage crew members have come together to bring the 1599 political thriller to the modern day in a completely new way.
Director Theon Weber and stage manager Angie Roiniotis have been working to blend a live stage performance seamlessly with live projection and prerecorded footage to fully immerse the audience while showing off everything the Palace can do.
“This is a play about being in public where the plot is center on a speech and how it will be received and how crowds will behave,” Weber said. “You see people speaking in private and public, so we’ll be showing the ‘public’ moments on screen while ‘private’ moments are happening on stage.”
For example, during the powerful speeches of Act II, a cameraperson will be part of the play and filming the speakers’ who will be framed on the projector above the stage.
On stage, audiences will see the private moments, like a make-up artist making touch-ups before the big speech.
“We had a film unit on location at the Palace and elsewhere that prerecorded footage that will be showing on the screen that will then come together with the live camera feed and the live performance,” Weber said. “For instance, you’ll see a crowd in the lobby that was prerecorded, but the audience will also hear them outside in the lobby. The crowd will then enter the theater and the cameras will ‘cut’ to a live image of them on the screen simultaneously.”
While production only began at the beginning of the year, Weber and Roiniotis have been thinking about this play for a while and have enjoyed watching everything come together on the stage and screen.
“People have worked so hard on this. Everyone gives us what we need, but also brings in ideas that may work better, which is always nice,” Weber said. “The past couple days have been the first time it’s existed outside our heads and we’ve definitely discovered things we didn’t know we were going to do.”
“We have some cool artists working with us. We have a designer for weapons alone, an armor designer, graphic designer and a cinematographer with a clear vision,” Roiniotis added. “It’s really cool to see all these artists come together.”
The play includes multiple design elements with Heiki Wolf as the set designer, JoJo Guevara as the armor designer, Malik Girley as the weapon designer, Sonny Czcyson as the graphic designer and Roiniotis as the costume designer.
“As a stage manager, I am stepping into a new role with new responsibilities, and I’m excited to be part of a show like this,” Roiniotis said. “I also got so much creative freedom as the costume designer, too. It was fun being able to mix modern day looks with hints of Rome while making it look seamless.”
“I love doing modern Shakespeare, and this play in particular being in ancient Rome easily lends itself to the politicians, media, assistants, soldiers and people of today,” Weber said. “It’s immediately recognizable as the way we think about ourselves.”
The story feels even more tangible for people as the video segments and multimedia format help audiences understand the it, ultimately making them part of the narrative.
Film Director Roselio Hernandez and Director of Photography Camron Verbarg filmed the moments that will be projected behind the stage and will set the scene throughout the production.
“I can promise that it’ll be a ride. The production leaves the stage all the time and things happen in the audience,” Weber said. “The production itself is trying to enfold you and make it feel like it’s happening right now. It’s exciting and helps make sense of the story.”
While many people within the cast and crew are long-standing in the Hilo theater community, working with multimedia has been a completely different experience.
“This is the third Shakespeare play I’ve directed, and I’m comfortable directing Shakespeare, but I’ve never done something with this much movement before,” Weber said. “That’s been part of the fun of it. It’s rare to do something this technically complicated.”
“This is new for the cast, new for us and it will be new for the audience since they haven’t seen anything like this,” Roiniotis said.
The Palace will be hosting “CAESAR” for two weekends from Friday, March 15, to Sunday, March 24.
Friday and Saturday shows begin at 7 p.m., and Sunday shows will begin at 2:30 p.m.
Tickets are available for $25 for priority orchestra and $15 for general admission. All tickets are $5 more the day of the show.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit hilopalace.com.
Email Kelsey Walling at kwalling@hawaiitribune-herald.com
