Eastern Student Hanna Madler Opens New Theatre with "Pedro, The Great Pretender"

2016 Nov 28

Hanna Madler '17, an Eastern Connecticut State University student from South Windsor, helped christen the brand new Proscenium Theatre with an inaugural performance of "Cervante's Pedro, The Great Pretender." The historic occasion -- the first major production of the Theatre Program to occur in that venue -- took place within Eastern's new Fine Arts Instructional Center from Nov. 8 to 13.

The classic play by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age, follows the tricks of Pedro, a master pretender whose escapades involve him with a slew of characters and careers as he struggles to find his true vocation in life.

Madler majors in Accounting and Theatre with concentrations in Acting and Directing. In "Pedro," Madler played Ines. "I believe my biggest success was what I learned about the connection between physicality and vocal quality," said Madler, "which is a skill I will be able to carry on after graduation.

"Being a senior and having performed in the Harry Hope Theatre for the majority of my college career, opening this new theatre was like a dream come true," said Madler, reflecting on Eastern's longstanding and recently-retired theatre in Shafer Hall. "The department and the university are incredibly lucky for this new space and technology.

"As a graduating senior this year, I hope that through theatre I am able to maintain lasting relationships and continue to have the opportunity to educate the world," said Madler. "Theatre has the power to make a difference for multiple people at a time."

"Our first production in our new Proscenium Theatre hopes to honor Cervantes' timeless subversive satire by connecting the centuries of his day and ours," said Ellen Faith Brodie, director and theatre professor at Eastern. "The costumes evoke the Spanish Golden Age paintings of Velasquez and his contemporaries. The scenic design was inspired by the 20th-century Spanish artist Jean Miro.

"Cervantes lives on in Pedro and we live on through the hopes and dreams of both the author and his creations," continued Brodie. "We are all Pedro: pretenders in many costumes wearing many masks and dreaming of a better life and a better world."

At Eastern, Madler