Libby Skala - The Recorder and Times Interview

THE RECORDER & TIMES

June 30, 2005

Shakespeare Festival set to open in Prescott

by RONALD ZAJAC

Staff Writer

(Excerpted from a longer article)

PRESCOTT -- This year's St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival production has the familiar ingredients of Shakespearean comedy: confusion, a shipwreck, separated identical twins and, of course, plenty of laughs.

Libby Skala, who plays Viola, has some experience with the role even though this is her first time doing Twelfe Night.

Her one-woman show, Lilia, includes a scene in which she is coached by her grandmother on how to play Viola.

The New York City resident feels Viola should be played with some psychological depth, not merely with comic lightness. It's easy to understand why.

"Viola has suffered the loss of a brother. She's in mourning, she's orphaned, she's a total stranger in a strange land and can't even be herself," she said.

To make things even worse, she soon finds herself in love with a man who thinks she's his servant-boy, Skala notes.

As with many actors, one thing above all attracts Skala to Shakespeare.

"The words!" she says with wonder. (The) language is so rich and poetic and it's like music."

Molly Lyons will also perform her one-woman show, A Most Notorious Woman, based on the story of Ireland's last queen, as part of the "Sunday Series" on July 17.

It will also include Skala's show Lilia, on July 10.

Last Updated: 3/4/2009

LIBBY

SKALA

Performer Writer