April Brassard Directs Orlando by Sarah Ruhl 

This past November, Professor April Brassard mounted her production of Orlando by Sarah Ruhl in the Department of Performing Arts’ Gonda Theatre. A stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel, Orlando was a surrealist masterpiece featuring a wide array of student actors and members of the creative team. 

In reflection on the production, Professor Brassard shared “Directing Orlando was one of the most rewarding creative endeavors of my life. The design and technical feats crafted by our Georgetown in-house production team were magnificent, and collaborating with those faculty and staff members was an honor.” Professor Brassard is an award-winning playwright, musician, artist, producer, and performer, all of which are experiences she brought to the fore in working on Orlando. She shared, “As a former musician and conductor, I believe the creation of live theater is truly akin to a symphony, where the instruments are theatrical elements, and the objective is to catalyze catharsis and incite empathy… We spanned centuries, crossed borders, endured existential crises, provoked earth-shattering love, defied mortality, and emerged as beings from glacial ice, intact but transformed creatures of the theatrical night.”

Professor Brassard’s actors described performing in Orlando as an experience that fundamentally impacted their identities. Junior Charlotte Masi shared, “Before Orlando, I had built an efficient, but limiting, personal architecture. I saw my identity as a series of separate compartments: the academic, the musical, the social… The play taught me that our past selves are not foreign countries, but available territories, if we are brave enough to revisit them. I transformed from someone who managed a fixed identity to someone who is curious about its possibilities.” Senior Minh Phan reiterated, “The person that resided in my flesh and blood before the play would be unrecognizable to myself today.”

Julia Small, who played the role of Orlando, praised Professor Brassard’s directing and casting ability, and reflected, “Acting in Orlando this semester has been the most amazing experience and will live in my heart forever.”

Read the DC Theater Arts review of Orlando: https://dctheaterarts.org/2025/11/18/orlando-takes-a-gender-trip-through-time-at-georgetown-university/