Eastern Oregon University stages Thou Hast Thy Will song cycle March 12-15

Nicholas Vece, an Eastern Oregon University alumnus from the class of 2024, brings a 14-piece song cycle built from William Shakespeare’s sonnets and monologues to Schwarz Theatre in Loso Hall March 12-14 at 7 p.m., with a matinee March 15 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission and EOU students are admitted free; the university lists tickets through its ticketing partner Tix.

The production is intentionally hybrid in form - part concert, part theater - and uses Shakespeare’s original language set to entirely original music composed and directed by Vece. The show “moves through a series of songs connected by Shakespeare’s language and themes of love, longing and change,” and deliberately avoids an elaborate set or a traditional dramatic storyline, instead letting four singers and a live ensemble carry the arc of the evening.

Vece, who composed the music while still a student and continued developing the idea in rehearsals, described the project as “It’s like if a musical and a concert had a baby.” After graduating, he remained in La Grande and now works in pediatric behavioral health running an integrated primary care program that teaches adolescents skills to manage anxiety and depression, while awaiting word on admission to a Ph.D. program and aiming to become a university psychology professor. Vece said of keeping theater in his life, “I never wanted to make it a job. I wanted to keep that fire alive.”

The cast features four student singers: Hannah Brown, a senior at EOU, Zander Vandeman, Mackenzie Jonas and Jacob Graffunder. Rehearsal photographs by Michael K. Dakota show the quartet working in Schwarz Theatre; a rehearsal caption lists the four names and credits Dakota and Eastern Oregon University for the images. Brown said she auditioned after seeing a poster and knowing the directors: “They put up a poster, and I’m friends with the directors. I thought, I’ll do a show before my senior year ends.” She described the piece’s unusual form and the verbatim Shakespeare text set to new music: “It’s very different. Nick took all of those Shakespeare words and put them into songs. So it’s just a bunch of songs, the words are Shakespeare, but the music is all originally Nick.” On memorization she laughed, “Oh yes. Lots of Shakespeare to memorize.”

EOU’s production notes describe the piece as “Featuring words by William Shakespeare and original music composed and directed by Vece” and emphasize a small live band backing the student singers. Promotional material from the university indicates musical influences that blend jazz, folk and musical theater, underscoring a concert-theater approach rather than a conventional staging.

The run at Schwarz Theatre offers La Grande audiences a chance to hear Shakespeare’s language reframed by a recent graduate who returned to campus as composer-director, and to see four EOU singers interpret those texts live with a supporting ensemble. Tickets are available through the university’s ticketing partner; general admission is $12 and EOU students are admitted free. Photographs and rehearsal credits are attributed to Michael K. Dakota / Eastern Oregon University.