The Hamilton College Theater Department will be performing

King Stag

for its Fall Mainstage Production.

Italian playwright Carlo Gozzi wrote

King Stag

in 1762. The play is a fairytale that follows a king as he searches for an honest wife in a world full of rapacity and deceit. His quest is further complicated when magic is put into the wrong hands.

King Stag

explores the ideas of love, death, and transformation, examines how the characters confront their attitudes towards physical and spiritual identity as they strive towards their respective ambitions.

The cast of

King Stag

consists of 21 Hamilton students, including Emily Aviles ’19 as King Deramo, Jake Bolster ’19 as Clarice, Noelani Stevenson ’19 as Tartaglia, Robbie

Lane ’20 as Angela, Taylor Wallace ’19 as Brighella, Jack Clark ’21 as Smeraldina, and Jojo Reinhart-Jones ’20 as Truffaldino.

A unique aspect of this play is the puppeteering. The actors are using Bunraku-style puppets for this production. Bunraku is a form of Japanese puppet theater that was founded in the 17th Century in Osaka, Japan. The puppets portray a range of figures in the play, like the stag, a towering bear, and an animated statue.

Each of the puppets possesses a unique range of motion, which is brought to life by the various methods used to handle the puppets and the dance-like quality of the puppeteers’ work. These techniques give the puppets personality and lifelike movement.

For the audition process, actors were required to bring a comedic monologue with them and were evaluated on how they worked with puppets. Close to none of the puppeteers had previous experience before this production. Both the actors and puppeteers are from multiple class years and majors. Notable aspects of their performances include their comedic timing, depth of emotion, and strong vocal and physical performance choices.

King Stag

’s design team consists of Visiting Assistant Professor of Theatre Sara Walsh as the puppet designer, Isabelle Fields as the costume designer, Tyler Kieffer as the sound designer, Jeff Larson as the set designer, and Derek Van Heel as the lighting designer.

King Stag

will be performed on Friday, Nov. 2, Saturday, Nov. 3, and Wednesday, Nov. 7 through Saturday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 PM. The production will also be performed on Saturday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 10 at 2:00 PM. The play will be performed in the Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts’ new Romano Theatre. The cost of the tickets is $4.00 for Hamilton students and $7.00 for general admission. One can reserve tickets online or call the Box Office at (315) 859–4969. Seating is limited and reservations are strongly encouraged.

There is no late seating.