Lucas Sanders thought his passion for acting would end after he graduated high school.
This week, Sanders joined a UF acting group in the glow of a lava lamp, set in front of a stage on the Plaza of the Americas.
Sanders joined Shakespeare in the Park in September, when the group started practicing for “Twelfth Night,” which premiered Thursday night.
As he donned skinny jeans, a beanie, a plaid flannel and a shirt that read “Got Pizza?” his passion for acting lived on.
Despite his responsibilities in the UF Honors Program, two engineering clubs and everyday classes, Sanders makes time to act.
“I’ve done theater since middle school. I’ve done musicals, acting class — I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to pursue it professionally or anything,” Sanders said. “It’s just because I enjoy it.”
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Kyle Clavier, a 22-year-old UF environmental engineering senior, claps during Shakespeare in the Park’s first performance of 2016. This year, the club is performing the Shakespearean comedy “Twelfth Night.”
Sanders was born in Luxembourg on Sept. 7, 1996.
His family traveled stateside when Sanders was two, following his dad’s consulting job to Chicago.
The price of living rose throughout the next 13 years, and Sanders relocated once again — this time to St. Augustine.
“It was really difficult, because my whole family was ready for a move and I don’t know that I was,” Sanders said.
Life restarted at Allen D. Nease High School, where Sanders soon met new friends and joined the theater program.
Though he didn’t relocate every other year like others do, Sanders said, the move to Florida took its toll.
“That one move was a life-altering thing for me,” he said. “Just being in a new place and starting from square one with who I knew, who I could talk to,” he said.
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While auditions for “Twelfth Night” started in September, Alison Sigalow started preparing almost a year ago.
Sigalow, a 20-year-old UF elementary education junior and one of the show’s directors, said she has never missed a rehearsal.
“I’m in charge of props, costumes, the stage — most of it,” she said.
Forty-two people auditioned this year, Sigalow said, and only 15 were cast.
Sanders is the only freshman in the show.
He said the group started rehearsing the moment Sigalow assigned roles, and their efforts became more intense as the debut approached.
To the cast, it’s all worth it.
“The show gets better each time we do it,” Sanders said.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the cast and directors practiced on the Plaza of the Americas every night from 5 p.m. until up to 10 p.m.
They first set up a large white curtain between two trees. Along with the lava lamp on stage right, the directors aligned candles in Mason jars, creating an area where their story could unfold.
“It’s been amazing,” Sigalow said Monday. “The cast has worked so, so hard and everyone has brought so much to the table that I just can’t wait for it all to come together this weekend.”
Before rehearsing the two-hour script, including gestures and inflection, the actors walked in circles and projected lines from the show to warm up.
Even in his favorite place, Sanders said he felt the responsibilities of school creeping into his mind.
“I got really involved my first year, and I can feel like the crushing weight of it, you know?” Sanders said.
Sanders said he can bear the weight.
“It’s crunch time.”
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“Twelfth Night” is Abigail Hummel’s last show with Shakespeare in the Park.
Hummel, a 21-year-old UF biology senior and the group’s president, said acting with her peers completed the college experience.
“It’s been the one thing that I’ve stuck with the entire time,” she said. “I’ve made some of my closest friends through Shakespeare in the Park, and I’ve had some incredible opportunities to perform.”
She said the group is a family, and that everyone is happy to see it grow.
“It’s a friendly, loving, supportive environment, so if you have any interest in acting at all, we love newcomers,” Hummel said.
Sanders said he remembers meeting the group members as a freshman and how quickly they became some of his closest friends.
“I found it really accepting,” Sanders said. “I didn’t feel like the odd one out for not being a theatre major,” he said.
His journey began at UF Preview, where someone mentioned a student-run club that performed Shakespearean shows once a year.
He emailed the club sponsor in Fall, and his audition soon followed.
“I went to auditions, got the part and that was it,” he said.
The move from Chicago to St. Augustine prepared Sanders for the transition to UF, and theater only made his experience easier.
“It was something that I’ve always really enjoyed. I love watching it, and I love bringing it to life when I can,” Sanders said.
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Lucas Sanders, middle top, puts his hand in a huddle before Shakespeare in the Park’s first performance. Sanders portrayed the character of Fabian in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” to an audience of about 30 on Thursday night.
Rain soaked the group’s stage Thursday, but the show went on.
They relocated the backdrop and stage to the Library West breezeway, later lying down blue tarps for the audience to sit on.
About 30 people and a dog named Lily watched from the audience as Sanders and his castmates performed the comedy.
Rain fell from each side of the stage.
President Hummel said Amanda Bynes’ movie “She’s the Man” is based on “Twelfth Night,” in which Hummel played the main character, Viola, on Thursday.
“She is a rich, collegiate donor’s daughter who gets shipwrecked in Illyria and has to disguise herself as a man and join a frat in order to preserve herself in the new school,” she said.
Knowing their audience, Shakespeare in the Park adjusted the show’s theme to make it more college-oriented.
As Hummel’s character disguised herself among a group of men in togas, four others played beer pong in the background.
Before the show started, Sanders sat on the ground and read the lines of his character, Fabian.
“I definitely always try to find a little bit of myself in whatever character I’m doing,” he said. “I think Fabian is like, a little sassy, a little sidekick-y — those are all things I can do well.”
A few minutes before the opening scene, the group huddled together behind the curtain. Sanders said he was excited to see their work come together.
“I don’t get nervous, I get better,” he said, laughing.
Sigalow channeled her excitement and encouraged the cast.
“My heart is beating so fast right now,” she said. “You guys have earned this. You deserve this.”
The actors then bounced from side to side and said “One, two, three, Shakespeare!”
“Twelfth Night” runs through the weekend, with performances Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
As his freshman year comes to a close, Sanders said he has no regrets about his time with Shakespeare in the Park. He plans on doing it again next year.
Sanders said he originally planned to focus on his major and graduate in the quickest way possible.
Can someone be happy while tackling 18-credit semesters and outside responsibilities? Maybe, Sanders said, but there are other options.
“I had never thought that in college you could continue to do things you love.”
Contact Molly Donovan at mdonovan@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @Mollyidonovan.
Lucas Sanders, a 19-year-old UF computer engineering freshman, performs a selected scene from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” as Benedick alongside Sarah Emily Hall, a 20-year-old UF psychology sophomore, as Beatrice on the Library West Breezeway on Thursday evening.
