A Winter's Tale  proves to be a successful last production

Senior Julie Blumenthal chose Shakespeare's A Winter's Tale  to be her Theater Honors project for many reasons.

The double-major is also getting a degree in Biology, and finds that there are many parallels between theater and her science of choice.

"They're both about the workings of life, it's just studying them in different ways. One is the biology of life, the other is the psychology of life," said Blumenthal.

Shakespeare has endearing qualities to Blumenthal. "I can't even really articulate it," she said. "It just does this magical thing for me."

Her specific choice of play, performed last weekend, was based on an excerpt she worked on for a directing class last year.

She had to choose something that would stand on its own as a 45-minute excerpt, and she wanted something that didn't cast all men, since that's "virtually impossible" at Oberlin, said Blumenthal.

As she worked on the excerpt, she got to know the play "better and better."

The play "spoke to a lot of things [in me] in its spiritual quality and fantasy level," said Blumenthal. She decided to pursue the play as her honors project after her adviser encouraged her.

The fantasy factor of the play "made sense" to Blumenthal in Oberlin's context because she feels students don't give themselves the chance to let themselves explore a fantasy world.

Blumenthal was really pleased with how the production turned out. She felt the audience was responsive and "really let themselves get into it."

The actress felt the production was "an incredibly challenging process," and now has only to write her production thesis before she graduates.