By Hadassa Ferreira, Arts & Culture editor
One of the biggest doubts of humanity is whether life mimics art or art mimics life. Well, who mimics who is still hard to say, but it is definite that both walk together.
Mainly in periods of social controversies, through art, humans find a way to express their feelings and critique what they can in subtle ways.
Here at Saint Leo, it is no different. The Circus Comes to Town, a play presented by the Department of English, Music, and the Arts, was a great reflection of art portraying some of the chaos we live in currently regarding the political environment.
The play was written and directed by Paul Vitaliti, a senior honors student majoring in theater with a double minor in English and the arts. It was showcased in four sessions starting on Friday, Oct. 25, and went on until Sunday, Oct. 27. The play was showcased in the Black Box Theater at the Saint Leo Admissions Building, and the cost for attending the event was $5.00.
“It is absolutely amazing and gratifying to see everybody be able to learn, come together, and, most importantly, have fun. That’s what theater is here for us at Saint Leo, and that’s what I think is the most beautiful about our production,” says Paul Vitaliti.
The play was a satirical comedy that portrayed a debate between two Saint Leo students, Vincenzo Petrozzo and Giorgina La Rossa, who were candidates to be the next President of the Student Government Union.
The plot thickens throughout this heated debate, as the two candidates have very different plans for the S.G.U. during their time in office.
The fun part about the story is that neither one of the candidates was the first or the best option for the presidency. However, the other candidates who seemed to be more prepared gave up on the race, and La Rossa and Petrozzo ended up being the only options.
Now, the public would watch the final debate between both candidates and decide on who would be the next S.G.U. President.
At the end of the play, when they were about to discover who won the election, one character says, “It is a shame for us that those two were the only candidates for presidency remaining.”
A fun aspect of the play was that some of the actors were mixed into the audience, representing students who were supporters of the candidates. Those students represented biased people who, in many cases, are uninformed on political matters and support bad candidates regardless of what they say, no matter what.
As a comedy, there were several elements that evoked loud laughs from the audience, most of which were due to the Italian jokes that happened throughout the debate and references to Saint Leo figures, such as President Dadez and Dr. Rimanelli, as well as Instructor Orlando, who played Hank Fernando, a representation of himself, in the last session on Oct. 27.
“I had a lot of fun! It is something I haven’t done in a long time, like acting, since I was a little kid,” said Instructor Orlando, who teaches political sciences here at Saint Leo. “So, when Paul asked me to play a role that is very familiar to me… some would say this was the role I was born to play.”
The play is a critique of candidates who do not take government positions seriously. Its idea is to show how sometimes candidates are more interested in harming each other than in being recognized by the public for their good qualities as candidates.
The Circus Comes to Town was a great artistic production that achieved huge success, in spite of the production of the play happening in the middle of two hurricanes that closed Saint Leo for many days.
“We lost five rehearsal days, and we had three rehearsals via Zoom. This cast has made so many improvements to the show and to this performance, and as the production, it is beautiful to see everybody learning more,” Vitaliti added.
Because the elections are closer than ever, this play is a great opportunity for students to reflect, in a humorous and light atmosphere, on the negativity of a political context in which candidates do not take their jobs that seriously. All Saint Leo faculty and students involved did a great job and the play was extremely entertaining!
