At home with the Ottawas

Five scenes, four actors, three hours, two genders, one building. All this was a reality Saturday night for actors in "West Bancroft Side Story."

The scenes filmed are among the first in the show to display the four main characters of the show's Ottawa gang together.

"West Bancroft Side Story" is a parody of William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," depicting a love story between two young lovers – Joey and Sonia – from rival dorms: Ottawa House and the Quad, respectively.

Joey, the Romeo-like male lead, lives at Ottawa House with three of his friends: Marky, Ashleigh and Ben.

The dynamic of the four Ottawa House characters is supposed to mimic the chemistry of the House of Montague characters in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," but the actors' performances highlight more modern dynamics of friendship.

"Marky and Joey are best friends," said Gage Howell of his and Nick Kneer's characters, similar to Mercutio and Romeo of Shakespeare's play. "We're roommates, so we always like to kick it, just Marky and Joey."

Howell described Joey as "the normal guy of the Ottawas."

"He has a good head on his shoulders because he's not always fighting with the Quads, and he knows that even though Sonia is a Quad that she is a really good person and that he likes her for her," he said.

Marky, on the other hand, is described as completely different from Joey.

"He seems to think that he's the leader of the Ottawas," Howell said. "Marky is this really big super-tool, and he likes to think that girls are in love with him, but they're really not, and he's a bit of a show-off."

While the Mercutio role is easy to see in Howell's performance of Marky, the role equivalent to Shakespeare's Benvolio is female, but still highlights the differences between Joey, a romantic, and the grounded Benita.

"She knows her way's the right way, so she fights for her way all the time," said Katie Nelson, who fills Ben's role. "She's kind of like the mom in a way, but more so the voice of reason."

Howell agrees that Ben's role is very different from that of any other character in the show.

"Ben is kind of like Marky's mother," he said. "She likes to boss him around, she doesn't like him doing all the things that he does – like getting into fights – and Marky usually chooses to ignore her constant battering."

The fourth character, Ashleigh, does not have a direct equivalent in the Shakespeare play, but presents another element of the friendship bond among the Ottawa House characters.

"He's very – I wouldn't say clumsy, but he gets hurt a lot," said Dale Balister, who plays Ashleigh in the show. "He takes it like a trooper, though. He should have a concussion by now, but he doesn't."

In the scene the cast filmed on Saturday, Joey comes back to his suite at Ottawa to tell his friends Marky and Ben about his date with Sonia, but accidentally hits Ashleigh, causing chaos as Ben starts to panic over her boyfriend's physical state.

Though the scene is about Joey, Ashleigh's performance and the resulting confusion is a show-stealer.

"It might not exactly be his fault because his girlfriend, Ben, is always slamming his head into things," Howell said. "He just always seems to be in the wrong spot at the wrong time."

This was the first Ottawa filming of the semester.

"Filming's gone pretty good," Nelson said. "I mean, I've been a little stressed, but I think that's just going to happen."

She added that she thought the other members of the cast were very friendly and easy to work with.

"There's no cliques," Balister said. "Everybody gets along. Everyone sings karaoke at practice."

By the time the group wrapped for the day, the four actors had spent over 9 hours together.

Despite the long hours, though, Howell said that it wasn't so bad after all.

"Filming is definitely worth it, though," he said. "I definitely love the people – I love every single cast member, they're all so cool – so that makes filming a lot better. I couldn't imagine spending 10 hours with people that I didn't absolutely love."