Department of Performing Arts professor Caleen Sinnette Jennings admitted that the first time she read "Hamlet," it turned her off. The phrase "to be or not to be" repelled her. Many years later, she developed an appreciation for the play's language when she began teaching it, but the characters remained inaccessible.
But when Jennings, the writer and director of "Elsewhere in Elsinore," was 21 years old, she toured the Kronberg Castle, where the story of "Hamlet" unfolds. There, her curiosity was sparked. With its imposing grandness, she began to understand why all of the characters brooded. But she also began to wonder, who inhabited this place? Who cleaned it? Who cooked all the meals?
After a fellow teacher at a Shakespearean teaching conference explained the purposeful mystery of the play and its challenge to the audience, Jennings was inspired to write.
"'Hamlet' is such a male centered world," Jennings said.
Therefore, when crafting the all-female ensemble of "Elsinore," she sought to comprehend the enigmatic female characters, especially Gertrude and Ophelia.
"All of these women make things happen," she said. "But they too were impacted by the events of the play."
The play developed into the story of Ophelia's coming of age. Each scene captures Ophelia's important relationships, including those with Hamlet and her dead mother who returns as a ghost. However, Ophelia must also understand the pagan worship her mother and the servants practice and its contrast to the Christianity of the castle. Jennings developed this complex angle of the play after she read "The Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
Jennings insists she didn't write "Elsinore" to be "male-bashing," and that men would also enjoy the play. However, she thought it was important to achieve balance in the theatre by creating fulfilling female roles.
"Guys get all the roles," she said, especially in Shakespearean productions. "For once, men are off-scene."
Jennings couldn't find the exact words to describe what working with an all-female cast is like.
"The room is different," she said. "The energy is different."
Jennings said theater opportunities have grown for women since she majored in performing arts in college. She didn't even have a female performing arts professor until she was in graduate school.
Since then, theater has made important improvements. For example, the performing arts department at AU has a well-balanced male and female faculty, she said.
Furthermore, plays like Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues" have made theater more accessible for women. She said the success of "The Vagina Monologues" shows that "actors want to be in the company of other women"
