Bailey Murphy started college as a swimmer and is ending it as an actor.

The senior theatre arts major plays Rosalind in the latest production from the theatre department, “As You Like It” – a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare.

“I actually started off as a totally different major,” Murphy said. “I got into a show, ‘Everyman,’ and I was on the swim team here. The day I found out I didn’t get onto the swim team, I found out I was in the play.”

Murphy’s character, Rosalind, is a main character in the play that involves banishment, cross-dressing and love triangles. Rosalind is one of the characters to be banished to a forest, where she then disguises herself as a boy to avoid capture.

“We hide in the forest and run into my love, Orlando, and I trick him into coming to see me every day because I want to see him,” Murphy said. “We get married and it’s happily ever after.”

Jean Wolski is the director of “As You Like It,” which will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday through Tuesday and at 2 p.m. Sunday in The Village Theatre located at 960 18th St.

Tickets are $5 for students and $8 for faculty and can be purchased at the University Ticket Office between 2 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour before the performance.

Although written by Shakespeare in 1599, students should not be afraid of the difference in language.

“Don’t get intimidated by the language,” said Arielle Hughes, a sophomore theatre arts major. “We’re sort of taking more of a modern take on it, and it should be fairly easy to understand what’s going on even though it is Shakespeare.”

Ryan Peternell, a senior theatre arts major, who plays Duke Senior, said practice has been almost daily since the semester began.

“We’ve been working on this since the second Wednesday of the semester,” Peternell said. “We’ve been working on it pretty much daily, Sunday through Thursday, (and) we rehearse three hours a day.”

Duke Senior’s brother, Duke Frederick, exiles him to a forest.

The preparation for any production is more than just memorizing lines, though.

“We’re always reading our scripts, working on characterization, blocking movements, and developing these people,” Peternell said. “I guess it’s still a work in progress and we’ve been working on it for a month already.”

Rehearsals are done off campus, but the students do not mind.

“It’s kind of a bonding because we all travel together,” Murphy said. “The theater is like our little home. Sometimes it’s frustrating because you have to leave so much earlier, but it’s not a hassle, it’s something I’m acclimated to.”

Aubrey Wiggs as Celia and Bailey Murphy as Rosalind rehearse a scene for “As You like it” Tuesday night at the Village Theater. Nora Maberry/On the Verge

(more…)