Robert McFarlane, left, and Frank Einboden, right, in PSU production of "Measure for Measure." Photo by Chad Lanning.
As Portland State University Theater’s 2024 winter production of Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” comes to close this weekend (final performances Friday, March 8 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 9 at 2 p.m.), the College of the Arts sat down with three student actors, Frank Einboden, Ryan Kennedy, and Lulu Pray to talk about the play and their experiences in this West Coast premiere production.
PSU Theater’s “Measure for Measure” is Aditi Brennan Kapil’s modern translation of Shakespeare’s play, created as part of Shakespeare’s First Folio: 1623-2023, which commemorates the 400th anniversary of the collection of Shakespeare’s works. Karin Magaldi, Head of the Theater program, helms the production.
The play opens on the seedy city of Vienna, where the Duke, Vincentio, has abandoned his post, leaving his deputy, Angelo, to rein in what he sees as rampant immorality taking over the town. Angelo begins the daunting task of enforcing laws that seek to restrict immoral behaviors, but soon finds himself confronted with his own conflict of morality. Isabella, a novice nun, becomes the center of Angelo’s desires, and the events that unfold reveal the complexities of morality and the corrupting influence that power can have on even the most virtuous of individuals.
(Responses have been edited for clarity.)
Frank Einboden
What role do you play in “Measure for Measure?”
FE: I play the Duke, who is the head of state. He’s also basically the narrator and it’s his ideas that make the plot move forward. He’s the top power in this play.
Photo by Chad Lanning.What have you learned over the rehearsal and performance process?
FE: I learned a lot. Shakespeare is its own language, but the translation makes it easier to follow. I’ve learned to appreciate the storytelling of Shakespeare. Being involved in a production and being in the heart of it really throws you in it and you discover things daily. I discover things still, like, oh, that’s what that means!
How does the translation of “Measure for Measure” help bring Shakespeare’s themes and ideas to a modern audience?
FE: The theme is very relevant. Power corrupts unless you have a strong sense of self, of who you are. And I think that’s what it’s showing: what will you do when you’re handed power? How do you decide what’s good and what’s bad? And morally, where’s your compass at? I think that theme will always be around no matter what. And I guess that’s the genius of why people still have to talk about Shakespeare.
How has PSU’s Theater program helped prepare you for this role?
FE: Everyone has been very supportive and helped me navigate the world of Shakespeare. I’m a working actor in the musical theater genre, so this was completely out of my comfort zone. But everyone in the department and my castmates have been very willing to help one another, which is a great thing to have in a [theater] department.
What are your future performance or career goals?
FE: My goal, the reason I came back to school, is to work with underserved theaters with people of color, and get more people of color in theater. When I get hired to do a lot of shows, you will see a very small margin of people of color. My major is in writing, and I want to be a grant writer for [nonprofit theaters], to bring in more people that look like myself, and let them know that there is a space for them. I never thought I would be freaking doing Shakespeare, but that’s my goal with it.
Ryan Kennedy
What role do you play in “Measure for Measure?”
RK: I am playing Angelo. He’s labeled as the antagonist; however, I feel like he has more depth than that. He does some questionable things, but ultimately, he’s placed into a position of power that he’s not quite ready for.
Photo by Chad Lanning.What have you learned over the rehearsal and performance process?
RK: Doing Shakespeare has made me comfortable with the text. Shakespeare is a weird dude, and he writes funny. It’s hard to understand a lot of the time and dissecting that text and getting meaning from it is an entirely new language you have to learn.
How does the translation of “Measure for Measure” help bring Shakespeare’s themes and ideas to a modern audience?
RK: It’s about morality and moral compasses. What’s okay and what isn’t okay. How strict do you have to be? How closely do you have to follow the line? Wherever you look in the world, all of it’s applicable. The themes in this show are power, corruption, choices.
How has PSU’s Theater program helped prepare you for this role?
RK: Lulu and I had a lovely professor, Jonathan Cullen, who is a classically trained Shakespeare actor and a working actor who helped us phenomenally. We would meet up with him outside of class to run lines and he gave us more introspection within the text. Having someone like that in the theater department to help us was tremendously helpful.
Karin Magaldi was also a phenomenal resource. She is amazing. The amount of table work that we did, just on the small things like each of our [characters’] religious affiliations, political standings, and the history of the world at the time. She made sure we knew all of that so we could really place ourselves within this world.
What are your future performance or career goals?
RK: As of right now, I am a double major in theater and biology, so I’m splitting my focus. But in the future for acting, of course I would love to do Broadway. That sounds like the most amazing thing ever. The bigger the crowd, the better. But right now, I think I would just love to act in Portland, whether it’s theater, TV, short films, anything like that. I just love bringing characters to life and I love being in front of the camera, making people feel specific emotions.
Lulu Pray
What role do you play in “Measure for Measure?”
LP: I play Isabella, who is a novice nun. I feel like she’s the big religious, morality center of the play.
Photo by Chad Lanning.What have you learned over the rehearsal and performance process?
LP: It was very intimidating at first. The biggest challenge was understanding the text and also making the audience understand the text. And I think everyone’s doing a really good job of doing that. It’s a slow, collaborative process, working together to ask what does this mean? We also had a really great dramaturg to help us understand the historical context. Even though it is modern, it is still based on a show set in the 1600s. And yeah, I’ve just learned to be more comfortable with this kind of work and this kind of language.
How does the translation of “Measure for Measure” help bring Shakespeare’s themes and ideas to a modern audience?
LP: Having the translation allows for a lot of the comedic elements to show. Because there is comedy, even though it’s quite dark. And while it is a translation, the language still follows the prose and the vers – it still follows the same kind of structure – so it keeps that yummy Shakespeare sound.
How has PSU’s Theater program helped prepare you for this role?
LP: They brought in Professor Devon Allen, who is a classically trained actor, and she worked with us and gave us tips, which was really helpful. We did a lot of table work before we started the actual rehearsal process.
Also, Karin Magaldi provided us with a lot of resources. She provided me specifically with a lot of resources about the religious context. And that was really helpful because I was like, ‘I don’t know what nuns do.’
What are your future performance or career goals?
LP: I feel like I’m quite young right now and I just want to gain more experience. I’m getting into the PSU School of Film and auditioning. I have a lot of family in the film industry, so I kind of want to try that. I’m just kind of going with the flow, feeling what feels right. I love acting, and I just want to see where that takes me. I’ve taught a lot of theater to small children for the past three, four years. I’m really passionate about that. I could act and be a theater teacher for children.
Get tickets. The play is free for PSU students with student ID.