Under the Masks: TheatreUNCA Clowns Around with “A Company of Wayward Saints”

You know the characters—the wise old man, the young lovers, the goofball—maybe from your favorite sit-com or chick-flick. Maybe you even know them from your classes (all the world’s a stage, right?). They’ve been a part of theatrical storytelling since the Renaissance, and this semester TheatreUNCA brings those familiar commedia dell’arte faces to the stage in “A Company of Wayward Saints”—and then unmasks them.

The story follows a down-on-their-luck troupe of actors, who have grown weary of performing and, frankly, of each other. “This company has been traveling around for eons, it seems like, and they haven’t been able to get home, and like any group of people that work together and travel together that long, personalities start to flare up,” said Adam Cohen, the show’s director and an adjunct lecturer in the Drama Department.

The troupe decides to take on one last performance that will provide them the money they need to go home, and it’s a doozy: the entire history of man. They don their elaborate costumes and masks and take on everything from the story of Adam and Eve to Odysseus to Julius Caesar. And then it all falls apart.

The clown-like background of the commedia dell’arte troupe is familiar ground for at least two members of the production: Cohen, who is a graduate of clown college and a Ringling Bros. Circus veteran, and cast member Steve Hunt, associate director of Highsmith events and operations, who holds an MFA in directing and is an experienced mime.

Clown college may sound like a joke, but it was serious business for Cohen, who joined in after finishing his undergraduate degree. “A lot of my other clown college classmates were much stronger than I was in circus skills,” Cohen admitted. “I got a little disheartened…I got there a few days before classes started and everybody’s out in the parking lot jugging and riding unicycles and walking on stilts, and I was thinking, I can barely juggle three balls.”

But Cohen’s years studying theatre as an undergraduate gave him an edge. “They could do all that, but they didn’t know how to perform it,” he said. “The physical stuff I was able to pick up, but I had a strong background in performing in front of people, which was why I got chosen to be taken on the road.”

Hunt, who plays Dottore—or the doctor—had been looking for a chance to get back to his theater roots when he was encouraged to audition for Wayward Saints. The physical comedy nature of the play fit in well with his own performance background. “I started out studying mime and circus techniques as what I call an eclectic mime,” Hunt said, which is miming that includes some vocal elements, and some circus elements like jugging and unicycling.

You’ll see a bit of clown influence in Wayward Saints, Cohen said. “We might see a little bit of scarf juggling, potentially a little stilt walking; most of it would be physical comedy.” Expect a few shin kicks and head bops, Cohen said. And of course, the actors will be wearing traditional-style commedia dell’arte masks, which are being 3D printed on campus, custom-fit to the actors faces.

Sophomore drama major Alex Fus will don the mask of Harlequin, the leader of the acting troupe and a character who is as passionate about acting as Fus is. “I really resonate with him and I think he’s got a lot of really funny lines, he has a lot of heartwarming lines,” Fus said. “He gets really passionate about his craft, and I can relate to that on many levels.”

The chance to play the charismatic and charming Harlequin excited Fus, along with the opportunity to perform a different kind of theater. “This one drew me in because the elements of the show were really unique and interesting, and something that I thought would be a lot of fun to perform,” Fus said, “especially in a theater in the round that we have here.”

“It’s definitely going to be a fun evening, there’s a lot of comedy, there’s some pathos,” said Cohen.

“It’s funny, and it’s heartwarming,” Fus agreed.

So, will the troupe learn to remove their masks—and their egos—in order to save the show? Or is curtains for the Wayward Saints?

The show opens Oct. 3 in UNC Asheville’s Carol Belk Theater. Evening performances will take place Thursday-Saturday Oct. 3-5 with curtain at 7:30 p.m. One matinee will be offered at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6. Tickets are $7 for students, alumni and OLLI members; $10 for faculty, staff and senior citizens; and $12 for the general public. The first 50 students with a valid One Card will receive a free ticket to see that night’s performance.

For tickets and more information, visit drama.unca.edu.