Wendell joins his love of the Bard with directing

I wish that Chris Wendell '03 had been my high school English teacher. After discussing William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" with Wendell, his creative thesis production scheduled to open tonight in the Matthews Acting Studio at 8 p.m., I was convinced that he was meant to be an English teacher.

He talks about Shakespeare and this particular play with the enthusiasm and intrigue that your high school English teacher never did.

"My career in literature has been kind of framed by Shakespeare," he said. "From the beginning, I really felt the language was very activated and exciting, as opposed to people who find it alienating or hard to follow." But just in case his audience falls into this latter category, Wendell has entertained some popular, more contemporary influences in this late 16th -early 17th century comedy. "For me, the big influences on this production have been Freud and Escher," he said.

Wendell explored his interest in the application of Freud to "Measure for Measure" through independent reflection, as well as in a Freud seminar taken last semester.

"I spent a lot of time reading Freud and thinking about how to approach these characters in this narrative that Shakespeare gives us, and thinking about how we consider these characters in this narrative after Freud because, obviously, Shakespeare wrote way before Freud."

By having the same actors play characters at opposite ends of the moral spectrum, the particular cut of "Measure for Measure" that Wendell has chosen, attributed to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, questions the emotions and impulses that lie beneath the consciousness of an individual, those thoughts and feelings that he represses.

As an example, he cites the character Isabella, who is played by the same actress who also plays Mistress Overdone. Isabella is a virtuous and chaste figure, while Wendell describes Mistress Overdone as the "village whore."

"There's a moment when Isabella gets thrown on the ground, and as she's scrambling around on the ground, if her nun's skirt hikes up little bit, you can see what's underneath," said Wendell, "and it's this kind of very sexual costume, this sexual image of her other character, which ties into what we were talking about concerning Freud and what lives in the subconscious, what lies underneath."

M.C. Escher's concept of positive and negative space comes into play in Wendell's production in set designs and seating arrangements. But reluctant to spoil the effect, he shied away from further detail.

The connections that Wendell has made in his production of "Measure for Measure" with other minds and artists seem to be the insights of a highly creative student.

At a university that emphasizes a broad liberal arts education, he has found a community of students committed to the performing arts.

"There is definitely a performing arts community among students, which is wonderful, especially at a place where you intentionally can't major in theater, or in dance or in painting," he said.

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This community of artists has supported his decision to extend his interest in theater beyond the confines of a university and into the "real world,"— an unusual decision for a student surrounded by an atmosphere that, according to Wendell, seems to emphasize careers like management consulting and investment banking.

"As a student artist, it's very comforting when you meet those other people who are really passionate about this to the point where it becomes something that they want to do for the next, at least, five to 10 years of their lives," he said.

Wendell first became involved in performing arts on campus after seeing a production of Tom Stoppard's "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" at Theater~Intime as a freshman. He hung around while the crew was striking the set to talk with a member of the theater board and has been a presence in the Princeton theater community ever since.

"Three months later, I was on the board of Theater~Intime and working on shows doing technical work — assistant stage managing and doing run crew and that kind of stuff," he said. He also helps run the Performing Arts Council, an organization of twenty student theater and dance groups that he describes as a "lively atmosphere."

Wendell is hoping to pursue a producing and directing internship with a nonprofit theater after graduation. If that doesn't work out, though, he certainly has a promising future as a Shakespeare savant.