My first brush with this comedy was when I was an
undergrad. It was to be one of the first
plays of the upcoming fall/winter season and I desperately wanted to play
Beatrice. All of that wonderful wit and
not suffering fools coupled with such charm?
Yes, please. So, I spent the
entire summer before auditions studying the script on my own. Just me and my Schmidt Lexicons (you
Shakespeare-philes know what I’m talking about). I prepared completely and was ready! Then a few days before the auditions, I was
in a horrific car accident. Against
recommendations, I pulled myself out of bed and showed up at the audition
complete with bandages and pain killers.
I was not going to be deterred from doing my audition monologue and let
all those months of preparation go to waste.
Forgetting all pain when I was on stage, like all actors do, I did scene
after scene that the director requested.
Then I came home and collapsed. A
couple of days later, a fellow actress in the drama department called me. I was in a bit of a pain killer haze so I
don’t remember everything she said until I heard the word
“Congratulations.” “For what?” I
said. “Well…you’re Beatrice.” She said,
surprised. Apparently, the casting sheet
had been up for a day or so, but due to my injuries I hadn’t gone to school to
check. I burst into tears over the
phone. Tears of joy, release, and
gratitude that all of my hard work had paid off even though I was hobbling
around the stage. A few months later,
the pain killers and bandages were gone and I was playing a part I had set my
heart on and worked so hard to get.
Years later, I was cast as Beatrice in Much adoe… in an Unrehearsed production with The New England
Shakespeare Festival (my fourth year with them). It was supposed to be just one performance
for me this time since I wasn’t sure I would be able to do the entire tour since
I had other show obligations in NYC.
But, after the wonderful actor playing Benedick called me after the show
and said “Let’s do the tour!” – I checked with my director in NYC who was able
to work out the schedule so I could go.
Little did I know that this tour would change my life, forever. My first day there, I met a very funny and
very charming man named Andy Kirtland.
He was a vet actor with The New England Shakespeare Festival, like me,
except he had been with them longer and just happened to perform on the tours
that I wasn’t on. After years working
for the same company, this was our first meeting. We instantly fell in love – not just
romantically, but with each other’s talent and humor (Andy played
Dogberry). Shortly after the tour, we
moved in together and were married a few years after that. During that time, we have worked together on
many, many occasions – either as actors, director/actor, co-teachers,
co-producers, etc. and realized how well we work together due to our mutual
respect and enjoyment of theatre and each other. Even fellow artistic directors have commented
on our awesome working relationship. We
decided to work together on a full-time basis doing theatre that we love and
are passionate about, so in 2012 we founded The Unrehearsed Shakespeare Project
and have taught, directed and produced some wonderful theatre so far (and will
continue to do so).
This year, we are doing our first tour with USP. As Artistic Director, I chose to do Much adoe about Nothing this time to
celebrate this play that I have been passionate about and very close to for
years as well as to celebrate the play that brought my husband/partner/best
friend and me together. It’s going to be
one hell of a show!
-Elizabeth
Ruelas
The
Unrehearsed Shakespeare Project
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