Pictured (from left): Tristan Dierflinger, Bree Fite, Mary Lou Mowery, and Emma Mendoza.
By: Dr. Andrew Yox, Honors Director
Three NTCC students, all involved in this summer’s honors film project, witnessed Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in an afternoon production on 24 July. They traveled to the annual Texas Shakespeare Festival in Kilgore. Donors of Honors Northeast and of the college, Jerald and Mary Lou Mowery made the excursion possible. The students drove from NTCC and back with Dr. Andrew Yox, honors director.
In a conversation about the play on the way home, the students shared what they thought was unique about the performance. Dierflinger noted that “I had always thought that Shakespeare was hard to understand, and only wrote for a prestigious audience. But the play was a lot of fun, and I actually found parts of it, hilarious.” All three found the Shakespearean English surprisingly accessible, thanks in part to the excellent acting, articulation, scenery and sound quality. The students were surprised to learn how Jerald and Mary Lou Mowery from Mount Vernon play important roles behind the scenes in supporting the Kilgore-based Shakespeare Festival. They were also fascinated to view the choreography of stage-change, right after the performance, as college workers deconstructed the scenery, and put up another for the next performance.
All three students have significant roles in the upcoming honors film. Emma Mendoza is the director. Tristan plays the role of a key antagonist, and Bree, an overachieving Chicana of the 1970s who turns to valium, but also becomes famous as the mother of the future Presidential candidate, Julián Castro.
Dr. Andrew Yox notes, “that we are very fortunate as an honors program and college to receive so much special support from donors such as the Mowerys. This trip was just the tip of the iceberg. The honors program in particular has attained a singular group dynamic thanks to their aid.”
