At Mater Dei High School, the Advanced Theater Arts students showcased Macbeth as one of their Project Discourse assignments on Feb. 18-21, 24,26 & 27. Though the play had an air of mystery, its organization and preparation was evident. 

Junior McCallister Selva was chosen to be the student director of Macbeth. Selva’s main objective with the play was to make it approachable to students. Assembling certain themes that surround Macbeth and bringing them into a more modern made for a production that was better understood by students.

“My biggest goal was to add more technological elements to the show, so basically the biggest thing I added was a lot of projections. We had a lot of projections of videos and we even had moments that aren’t necessarily in the script,” said Selva. 

Selva describes herself to be a very visual and auditory person. She was able to gather the music that she wanted to apply to the play before she started to direct it.

“We also had a lot of modern music, like Lana Del Rey, Awolnation and Lorde, so that students can listen to it and recognize the music,” she said. “We used very dark and kind of creepy music, but I think that it turned out pretty well.”

She also added that she sent the music to the actors, set designers and sound designers to help them picture the vibe that she was aiming for in this portrayal of Macbeth.

In terms of inspiration behind the Macbeth play, Selva explained a story of a friend who was planning to go to Europe but canceled due to the recent actions of ISIS. After hearing this, Selva wondered what it would be like to make every decision based off of fear. One of the main themes of Macbeth that Selva wanted to get across to students was to not let fear control our lives and that we all choose our destiny.

But right from the beginning, Selva wanted to execute the setting of Macbeth in our modern era. One aspect of the play that Selva found difficult to translate into the modern era was the scene when Malcolm and Macduff go into hiding and planning a revolt after Macbeth becomes king. Originally, Malcolm lies and pretends to be a corrupt tyrant.

Selva translated this character into the modern era by making him a runaway slob who received a random tattoo to make it more comprehensive to the student audience. It became more apparent to understand what Malcolm was making up about himself and in later scenes you can see him building up an army against Macbeth.

Selva takes pride in the production being very student-run and that they were given the support to be creative with their ideas.

“What I love so much of this production is that almost every single element of the show was student-run. We had students in the tech booth, we had students running lights, designing costumes, everything was done by students,” she said. “They were so respectful and kind and creative together so it was really awesome to see so many students taking such a big undertaking together.”

Many students considered viewing this production as beneficial because they have been reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth in their junior and sophomore English classes. The modern twist on the Shakespearian story helped students relate to and understand this significant portion of their English curriculum on a whole new level.