The student-run theater group is creating opportunities for people to learn about and get involved with performing arts.

The lights went red as junior Elijah Valter appeared on stage, hands and clothes stained in blood, as the titular Macbeth in Blue Demon Theatre’s (BDT) production of the popular Shakespeare play, which opened on Thursday, April 6. His words tell the story of a man forced to become a killer by fate, but Valter’s portrayal of the character goes deeper.

Elijah Valter looks at his blood-stained hands during his portrayal of Macbeth in Blue Demon Theatre’s (BDT) performance of the same name. This is Valter’s first performance with BDT. Photo by Bridget Killian, 14 East

Macbeth is a classic “fall from grace” story where Macbeth himself is tempted by a prophecy to kill the king and take the throne. However, Valter wanted to give the character more agency in his portrayal rather than acting as if everything he did was out of Macbeth’s control. 

“[With my] approach to Macbeth, I think everything he does a part of him definitely wants to do. I don’t think he’s powerless,” Valter said. “I tried to create a Macbeth that already had these seeds of murder and power in his mind before the play started.”

Valter, who attended a performing arts high school before coming to DePaul, said BDT gave him the space to be experimental with his approach to Shakespeare in a way other directors of classic plays haven’t. In the past, Valter said many of the directors he worked with were purists of the language of Shakespeare, which left little room to explore the characters in new ways. Now, with BDT, he was working alongside a cast and crew with different levels of experience with Shakespeare.

“Because of that, there was a lot more playfulness that went into it, and I felt generally a lot more free to explore whatever I wanted to with the character rather than trying to serve some five-hundred-year-old rule of what Macbeth should be or what Shakespeare should be,” Valter said. 

Anna Maria D’Ortenzio and Elijah Valter gaze into each other’s eyes during their portrayals of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Photo by Bridget Killian, 14 East

Anna Maria D’Ortenzio, a junior at DePaul, had never been in a Shakespeare production before being cast as Lady Macbeth. She described the experience as a class on the playwright.

“I think what makes it so special is the fact that we’ve all kind of tried to figure out Shakespeare together,” D’Ortenzio said. 

Macbeth is sophomore Grace Provan’s directing debut for BDT. For this performance, she had a goal of centering the women in the play. To do so, she played around with the genders of some of the roles. The traditionally male roles of Rosse and Lennox were rewritten as female roles for BDT’s production. In addition, most of the other roles in the play were deliberately cast so that anyone could play any character, regardless of gender.

“I wanted it to be gender-blind casting,” Provan said. “I wanted it to be unique, and I just kind of cast people that I knew would fit well together and would create the vision that I wanted.”

Two Blue Demon Theatre students carry out a fight in the first of four short plays in Short and Sweet Theatre at the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture, on February 2. Short and Sweet Theatre is a collection of short plays. Photo by Michelle Edwards, 14 East

BDT was founded in 2020 by Ben Stumpe, a DePaul graduate student studying digital communications and media arts. He saw a lack of opportunity for students interested in pursuing theater outside of The Theatre School (TTS) and wanted to create a group on campus that gave those students the space to explore their creativity with performing arts. 

“Even for TTS majors … you can just kind of do whatever you want artistically,” Stumpe said. 

DePaul students sing to each other in the fourth short play of Short and Sweet Theatre at the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture, on February 2. Photo by Michelle Edwards, 14 East

Provan, who is a secondary education major at DePaul, thought she would be done with theater in college, but BDT gave her the opportunity to continue doing what she had loved since middle school. 

“When I got to college, I was like, oh, that’s it. No more theater,” Provan said. “And then I saw posters for BDT, and I was like, ‘Oh my god.’ I can keep doing this.” 

BDT also encourages people to submit their own ideas for new shows for the group to put on throughout the year, D’Ortenzio said. Submissions for next year’s lineup are opening next week and anyone is able to submit, whether or not they are an official member of the club.  At the end of each school year, the BDT board and general body members are involved in deciding what plays and musicals to put on the following year. 

“Why would we do something that the people [don’t want to do]? We’re the every man’s theater,” D’Ortenzio said. 

Students across all years and majors at DePaul and with all experiences with theater can participate in the group as actors and crew members. D’Ortenzio said this brings new perspectives to theater work. 

Blue Demon Theatre students act out a climactic moment in the story of Macbeth, the current BDT performance playing at Theater Wit from April 6-8. Photo by Bridget Killian, 14 East

“We really want it to be the most inviting place for people, for the freshman who comes in who doesn’t have any friends. We’re a place to just come and try it out,” D’Ortenzio said. “Even if theater isn’t even your thing, just try it. That’s how I met all my friends.”

BDT’s production of Macbeth is being held at the Theater Wit and runs April 6-8 with two shows on Saturday. Tickets can be purchased here. 

Header Illustration by Julia Hester