Yeshiva College Dramatic Society Presents Mitch Albom’s Hilarious Play The Yeshiva College Dramatics Society (YCDS) has selected Mitch Albom’s Duck Hunter Shoots Angel for their upcoming production, running from April 6 to 11, 2019, at the Schottenstein Theater on the Wilf Campus at 560 West 185th Street. In the play, two bumbling Alabama brothers think they’ve shot an angel, and a cynical tabloid journalist and his reluctant photographer, chasing down the story, don't believe any of it—until feathers, wings and a tiara are discovered along the way. (Did they actually shoot down an angel? The price of a ticket will answer the question.) Jason Siev ’20YC (Sandy), Kyle Harris ’19K (Lenny) and Kesser Frankiel ’21YC (Duane) sat down with YU News to talk about the play and about creating theater at Yeshiva University.

Kesser Frankiel as Duane

First, make no doubt about it, these three actors are all very enthusiastic about the ingenuity of the script, Siev describing it as a “unique, hysterical, thought-provoking play with well-rounded characters that have depth and humor.” They were also lucky in that it was adaptable to an all-male cast. All three came to YCDS from different life-directions. Frankiel came from a background in improv and likes the energy improvisation gives to telling a story, while Harris, who grew up in Montreal, Canada, and Siev, hailing from Hollywood, Florida, became bitten by the theater bug through musicals like Spamalot and Annie Get Your Gun. Doing theater at Yeshiva University does present some challenges, but Siev prefers to see them as opportunities to show the YU community “that there is a lot of value and a lot to be learned from theater.” He told a story of how someone who was friend of a cast member came to be supportive and “he walked out saying ‘Wow, I’ve never actually thought about the things that we’re being said in the show.’ Reactions like that show that there is this fantastic thing that is theater, is the arts, and that is really special.” Harris agreed, noting that while the restrictions can sometimes be cumbersome, “overall, I think it’s great that YU has a theater program,” and for Frankiel, finding solutions around obstacles “gives us opportunities to create value and meaning that would otherwise be unexpected, and it also gives us chances for personal creativity and the freedom to find a personal understanding of our roles that might different from what the playwright had in mind.”

(l-r): Jason Siev (Sandy) and Kyle Harris (Lenny)

The three spoke glowingly of their set design crew, saying that this year’s set is probably the most ambitious undertaking YCDS has ever done, as well as praising the rest of cast and crew along with director Lin Snider for their efforts and enthusiasm. In ending the conversation, Siev mused that “human beings are often cursed with a closed perspective that makes it hard to see outside our own two eyes and put ourselves into another person’s shoes. But theater is a way to look at another life and experience what they experience, feel what they feel, and this play takes that idea and rolls with it. Once the two worlds in the play meet, the rural and the city, they realize that there’s really not that much that divides them. I think this is such a beautiful message, and this play really exemplifies it.” The show runs from April 6 to April 11, and tickets can be purchased at ycds.ticketleap.com