NWC to produce Shakespearian tragedy

Senior Tony Wilder, from Westmont, Ill., will play Moorish soldier Othello. Sophomore Anna Pitney, Wausau, Wis., will play his blonde, blue-eyed love, Desdemona.

Disowned by her father after her secret marriage to a black man, Desdemona follows Othello to the battlefield. The war they encounter, however, is a psychological one, when Othello’s resentful comrade Iago fills Othello’s mind with doubts about Desdemona’s fidelity.

Senior Ben Bees, Yucca Valley, Calif., has the role of Iago, and Brady Greer Huffman, also a senior from St. Joseph, Mo., is Casio, Desdemona’s supposed lover.

Theatre professor Bob Hubbard is directing Othello. Senior Kelly Holtom, Charlotte, N.C., designed the show’s Renaissance-style costumes. Rather than a period production, though, Othello’s anachronistic setting allows the characters to use cell phones and guns as well as swords.

Northwestern’s technical designer, Ethan Koerner, designed the deep-thrust set, which will include a river with water. Koerner, a specialist in puppetry, has designed a towering puppet to represent the poison being spread by Iago’s lies. Dan Laird, an Orange City sophomore, is the production’s puppet master.

Tickets for Othello are $5. The DeWitt Theatre box office opens Feb. 9 for Theatre Patrons; it is open Feb. 10 to 28 for the general public.

Tickets can be purchased by visiting the box office between 4 and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday or between noon and 5 p.m. on Saturday. The box office can also be reached by phone, 712-707-7098, or e-mail, boxoffice@nwciowa.edu.