Eastern Student Matthew Bessette Opens New Theatre with "Pedro, The Great Pretender"

2016 Nov 28

Matthew Bessette '19, an Eastern Connecticut State University student from Lebanon, 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.

Bessette majors in English and Theatre with concentrations in Secondary Education and Directing. In "Pedro," Bessette played Silerio. "Performing in this play taught me firsthand the importance of being a committed supporting character," said Bessette. "Even if an actor has no lines in a scene, they must dedicate themselves to consistency in terms of living in the moment and reacting to everything going on around them."

"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, Bessette has also acted in "Love of One's Neighbor" and the "Phoenix New Plays Series: Shorts 2016 - Cheating, Charming, Bastard." Prior to "Pedro," he has participated in 23 theatrical productions, four short films and the television show "The Cobblestone Corridor" as a background actor.