By Taquana Stanford

Arthur Miller’s “A View From the Bridge,” an intimate play portraying raw human emotions, was presented by the department of drama and dance last weekend. With the first three performances complete, this cast has just three left before the curtains close and they can say it is done.

Directed by faculty member Peter Sander, “A View From the Bridge,” is the second department production of the semester. It is one that Sander said he did not choose to direct. While Sander directs a play every year, his work encompasses what is left after other directors have taken their preference. “It pushes me to do things I wouldn’t normally do,” Sander says.

The 1,100 seat Adams Playhouse was a bit more than Sander would have wished for. “The theater is too big for the play,” he says. The play presents numerous moments of intimacy. A dilemma arises for actors who must perform such intense, personal scenes in such a large space. Sander would have preferred to have staged the play in the venue where “Six Characters in Search of an Author” was performed, the University’s black box theater.

The large space presented a challenge for set designer David Henderson as well, but his idea to push the environment of the story down into the seating area of the venue relieved some problems. Senior drama major Megan Lanzarone, who plays the wife, Beatrice, admits the space caused some issues when it came to projecting, but once the space was filled up with a working set, the large stage felt less overwhelming.

Sander is a fan of Miller’s works, which include “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible.” He believes “A View From the Bridge,” with a chorus and multidimensional conflicts, can be compared to a Greek tragedy. One thing that stood out to Sander, and why he likes “A View From the Bridge” so much, was that it was not as intense as Miller’s other plays.

While the play may have some humorous moments, the issues of the play are still serious, especially to the characters who live them. The dynamics of these characters lives even presented some difficulties for the actors. Lanzarone and Jeremy Benson, a junior drama major who plays the role of lead male Eddie Carbone, both admit that they struggled with their character work. Benson remembers wrestling with relating to the many life experiences that his character had gone through and building within himself the inner struggles that Eddie Carbone faced day after day. Benson and Lanzarone, who play husband and wife, realized these characters represented a lifestyle that was difficult to relate to, due to age. Lanzarone struggled with finding a balance between being a loving and fun wife yet at the same time strict and emotionally sustained. As actors they must work to truthfully become and portray their characters, and at this they seem to have succeeded according to Sander. “I think the actors got a grip on it,” Sander says. Pleased with the group of actors assigned to him from day one, Sander admits that while even though the Drama Department has many good actors and must cast three shows at the same time, he lucked out by getting the cast he wanted.

While Lanzarone couldn’t be happier with her role now, she admits that she was shocked to know that she was even considered for it. “It wasn’t in my mind that I could get it,” she says. Once she landed the role, the biggest part she has booked to date, she certainly felt pressure from it. “I wanted to live up to the role,” she says. Though nervous about it, winning such a big role instilled within her a sense of confidence. “As an actor it made me feel a lot more confident in the work that I’m doing,” Lanzarone explains.

Working opposite Lanzarone for most of the play, Benson would agree Lanzarone was right for her part as well as the rest of his castmates. “This is one of the most talented casts I’ve ever worked with,” he says. “The absence of egos and divas, everyone’s humble spirit helped to make this one of the smoothest productions he has ever been a part of,” Benson says. The hope of the cast is that the audience members can leave discovering something new about themselves through the characters. Benson hopes the play will help to also raise questions against the nature of betrayal and the idea of how far people will go to protect their families.

While Sander understands his responsibility in fulfilling the playwright’s intentions, he also appreciates all the fun he is having with his cast, which he feels is most important. “If theater is not fun, don’t do it because you don’t get paid a lot for it,” Sander says.

Just fun would be a simple way of describing this experience, says Benson, who wanted his part from the beginning. Accustomed to playing roles in Shakespeare plays or musicals, Benson is excited to have the chance to play such a deep and complex character as Eddie Carbone, an experience that he describes as fabulous and out of this world. Benson can guarantee one thing, “If I just say my lines right and just stay true to the character, I think it can be something I can be proud of for the rest of my life.”

Taking place in a section in Brooklyn called Red Hood and set in 1955, Miller’s story of Eddie Carbone will run for one more weekend at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Students in Hofstra’s Drama Department during a scene from Arthur Miller’s “A View from the Bridge.” Keeping with the rest of Miller’s work, the play focuses on a struggling family. (Jeffrey Herman)