What is Tartuffe about?

Moliere’s “Tartuffe” is a French comedy about a nobleman, Orgon, played by Richard Foote, who meets the shady Tartuffe, played by Nader Hamdan, and brings him home to live with his family.  Tartuffe is pretending to be a pious holy man, but Orgon’s entire family and staff can see through Tartuffe’s charade, with the exception of his mother Madame Pernelle, played by Wendy Morthorpe.  The son Damis is a hot-headed rogue of a lad who wishes nothing more than to rid his family of the imposter Tartuffe.  The housemaid Dorine, played by Alyssa Patterson, is a nosey and meddlesome women and does everything in her power to expose the rascal Tartuffe.  The title of my blog is, “Tartuffed,” referring to a line in the play that a character uses to mean “tricked or duped” which is the whole theme of the play.

This semester I have enrolled in Commercial Art with Professor Jim McConnell, American Ethnic Voices (literature) with Professor Brian Condrey, Mass Communications with Professor Gregory Kemble, and Theater Arts with Professor Geoffrey Wander.  I wasn’t supposed to be able to enroll in the theater class without having a role in the play, but, after two days of rather entertaining auditions, I was cast as Damis.  In my next blog posts, I will begin discussing what we have been working on so far this semester and provide you with some photos and video of the cast behind the scenes.