This year’s spring play brings some interesting set and blocking aspects that have not been seen at Xavier before.

Xavier 2012 graduate Chloe Streif will be helping the Xavier Drama Department in their production of Macbeth, directed by Xavier English  teacher and drama director Ms. Sarah Hayes. Streif will be returning to Xavier to teach and choreograph sword fighting scenes in Macbeth.

“As of now, I’m blocking the choreography by fighting an imaginary person in my living room,” Streif said. “I have to think about both sides of the fight and what will happen next for each person, and block if for myself.”

While at Xavier, Streif participated in many aspects of the theater department, including working backstage, in the sound and light booths, and as an actor. She majored in theatre with a concentration in acting and a minor in stage combat, at Columbia College in Chicago and graduated in December of 2017.

“My favorite thing about stage combat is all the people I have met,” Streif said. “It’s a unique thing that unites people from all walks of life. It’s also fun to walk to another knowledgeable combatant and start impromptu fighting them in public.”

Sword fighting not only plays an important role in Macbeth, but also in most Shakespearean plays, and theatre in general.

“It’s a great art that has been in plays for as long as theatre has existed,” Hayes said. “There are all sorts of types of sword fighting, but Shakespeare typically favored the use of rapiers and fencing swords. These would be the types of swords used in Romeo and Juliet or in Hamlet.”

In addition to sword fighting, the production will also include trap doors for the three witches in the play. The trapdoors are being created by Rod Bowen and Mark Hepworth, who are the set designers and engineers for the Xavier Drama Department.

“It’s how the witches will enter and exit from the stage to emphasize the supernatural motif that appears throughout the play,” Hayes said.

Macbeth will be performed at Xavier in the Regis-LaSalle Theatre April 19, 20, and 21 at 7 p.m.

Kathleen Kenney

A&E Writer