Two shows, two stories, one stage for FSU/Asolo Conservatory students

Jay Handelman, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
·4 min read
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The FSU/Asolo Conservatory usually presents one play at a time, but this winter audiences can see one show on a Tuesday and a different one on Wednesday as the second-year students do their own version of rotating repertory.

Half the class will be featured in Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage’s acclaimed “Clyde’s,” about a female ex-convict named Clyde who manages a truck stop sandwich shop and employs a staff of other ex-cons, all of them filled with dreams and ambitions that sometimes clash with the boss’s own nature. One of their goals is to create the world’s best sandwich.

The other students will appear in August Strindberg’s 1889 classic “Miss Julie,” a play about societal hierarchies and quests for freedom. To further complicate the schedule, director Karina Benjamin has double cast the two female roles in "Miss Julie." Actor John Leggett, plays the servant Jean in all performances, but two actresses will alternate playing Miss Julie, and two others take turns as Jean’s fiancée, Kristin.

The FSU/Asolo Conservatory has two alternating casts for its production of “Miss Julie,” each featuring John Leggett, center, as a servant. In one, he stars with Ayda Ozdoganlar, left, as the servant’s fiancée, and Caitlin Rose as the title character.
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory has two alternating casts for its production of “Miss Julie,” each featuring John Leggett, center, as a servant. In one, he stars with Ayda Ozdoganlar, left, as the servant’s fiancée, and Caitlin Rose as the title character.

“The students are all so different from each other, and we realize these are going to be two very different shows, even with the same script and same director,” Benjamin said, adding that Legget “interacts differently with each pair” of actresses. “They each have such a wildly different approach and interest in what part of the characters they want to explore and embody.”

Caitlin Rose as Julie shares the stage with Ayda Ozdoganlar as Kristin, while Elle Miller plays Julie in performances with Catherine Luciani as Kristin.

Elle Miller, right, plays the title character in August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” with, from left, Catherine Luciani and John Leggett as servants.
Elle Miller, right, plays the title character in August Strindberg’s “Miss Julie,” with, from left, Catherine Luciani and John Leggett as servants.

Benjamin joined the conservatory last fall as a visiting professor of movement. DeAnna Wright, the director of “Clyde’s,” is a 2019 graduate of the conservatory program now in her second year as a visiting assistant professor.

Wright, who will be familiar to audiences from her numerous Conservatory and Asolo Rep stage performances, makes her directorial debut with the production. She said Nottage’s work is a perfect play for such a start.

“It’s connected to something that I’m deeply connected to, spirituality. That’s why it feels like it’s home,” she said. “I’m definitely infusing this world with that idea and that’s the world that Lynn Nottage created.”

Wright’s cast features Jasmyn Ackah as Clyde, Ibukun Omotowa as Montrellous, Jonathan Acosta as Rafael, Ashley McCauley Moore as Letitia and Brian Zane as Jason. Though they work in a sandwich shop, the characters exist in what Wright describes as a “cosmic halfway house. What a beautiful way to tell this story, with these humans, with their colorful pasts, and from that past they’re trying to create a path for a second chance for themselves. And Lynn Nottage infused comedy in every moment.”

Jasmyn Ackah, center, as the title character in Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s” produced by the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, with, from left, Ibukun Omotowa, Ashley McCauley Moore, Jonathan Acosta and Brian Zane.
Jasmyn Ackah, center, as the title character in Lynn Nottage’s “Clyde’s” produced by the FSU/Asolo Conservatory, with, from left, Ibukun Omotowa, Ashley McCauley Moore, Jonathan Acosta and Brian Zane.

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The one commonality between the two plays is a kitchen setting, and while there may have been an initial thought about both shows using the same scenic design, that evolved over time because they require different looks.

Benjamin, a British actor and director, said it has been fascinating to watch the two teams of actors taking their different paths.

“I think in terms of revolutions in dramatic training, it’s brilliant to have them all in the room watching each other work and then go up there and do their own thing. It’s honest work, true work, experimental and exploratory,” she said. “They have invested in their own research and own understanding about what story they’re trying to tell and who these characters and then they find completely individual and unique moments in the play that don’t come from the script.”

Both directors said they have enjoyed a strongly collaborative rehearsal process with their actors. “We’ve encouraged each other to not have to worry what their counterpart is doing. They bring really brilliant things in, build it together and make sure it tracks,” Benjamin said of her dual casts.

FSU/Asolo Conservatory

‘Miss Julie” by August Strindberg’ to be presented Feb. 13-March 10. ‘Clyde’s’ by Lynn Nottage runs Feb. 14-March 9. Cook Theatre, FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. $22.50-$32. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Conservatory stages a Strindberg classic and Nottage comedy