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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; Ellie Rosentel, 18, of Forty Fort, will play a mellow dad known as &#8220;Pops&#8221; and 21-year-old Victoria Pennington, of West Wyoming, will play an even older family matriarch called &#8220;Gran Marfs&#8221; when the University of Scranton players present &#8220;The Beyonce&#8221; Thursday through Sunday.</p><p>While they&#8217;re portraying these folks who are old enough to be their, well, father and grandmother, the student thespians say they can relate to a much younger character, Nadia, who has started to question whether she should marry her fiance after all.</p><p>&#8220;I know people who switched their major during orientation week,&#8221; Rosentel said, reflecting on how it&#8217;s natural to explore new options and change your mind when you&#8217;re in your late teens or early 20s.</p><p>So, who is the young couple at the center of &#8220;The Beyonce?&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Nadia is very young, fashionable, very intelligent and extremely interested in how the world works and the importance of culture,&#8221; said Pennington, who is a public relations major with a minor in theater. &#8220;She gets consumed by the idea of where she fits in the world.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Her fiance, Andre Andre, is a very sweet, nurturing guy,&#8221; Pennington continued. &#8220;He really loves Nadia and tries to be supportive, but he&#8217;s not the brightest bulb.&#8221;</p><p>Hmm. Nadia? Andre? If the names sound familiar, you may remember them as the betrothed couple in Anton Chekhov&#8217;s &#8220;The Fiancee.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I think he (Chekhov) would be amused,&#8221; said Eliza Bent, the Brooklyn-based playwright who brought Chekhov&#8217;s &#8220;The Fiancee&#8221; out of long-ago Russia to a modern setting, one in which, as Pennington explained, Nadia admires the singer Beyonce &#8220;as an empowered woman&#8221; who&#8217;s &#8220;fun and free.&#8221;</p><p>While the famous singer doesn&#8217;t appear as a character, Bent said, &#8220;we call (Andre Andre) &#8216;The Beyonce&#8217; because it&#8217;s more fun to say.&#8221;</p><p>Nadia&#8217;s &#8220;use of &#8216;Beyonce&#8217; instead of &#8216;fiance&#8217; belies her trepidation about the whole marriage industrial complex,&#8221; Bent said Tuesday during	a brief telephone interview from the Abrons Arts Center in New York City, where she is rehearsing her role as the main character&#8217;s sister, Ismene, in Big Dance Theater&#8217;s production of &#8220;Antigonick,&#8221; which is based on Sophocles tragedy &#8220;Antigone.&#8221;</p><p>So Bent is a dancer as well as a playwright?</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m a performer who can move sometimes,&#8221; she said modestly, adding she will attend the University of Scranton&#8217;s final performance of &#8220;The Beyonce&#8221; on Nov. 18 and the audience will have a chance to chat with her.</p><p>When Bent spent time with the Scranton cast early in the rehearsal process, Pennington said, &#8220;One of the fun facts she told us was that when she was writing this play she was engaged herself and planning her wedding. The nerves leading up to the big event bled into the work.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been in other shows in the past, and you don&#8217;t always get to hear from the playwright,&#8221; said Rosentel, who is an electrical engineering major with a background in music. (She plays the guitar in her role as Pops; she also plays and sings on a regular basis at Flaherty&#8217;s restaurant in Kingston.</p><p>Will Nadia go ahead and marry Andre Andre as both families have expected her to? Or will she follow another path?</p><p>Come and see, the cast members said.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s about a young woman finding her way and becoming her true self,&#8221; Pennington said. &#8220;She&#8217;s having to deal with the tough decision of whether to change her life or to accept what&#8217;s being handed to her.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">As family matriach Gran Marfs, Victoria Pennington, of West Wyoming, gives her granddaughter&#8217;s friend Sasha (played by Nicolas Gangone) a noogie, rubbing his head as the two engage in playful banter. Other cast members in the University of Scranton Players&#8217; presentation of &#8216;The Beyonce&#8217; include Zachary Pavlocak as Andre Andre, Ali Basalyga as Nadia&#8217;s mother, Nina; Nia Moore as Nadia, Julia Consiglio as Consuelo and Ellie Rosentel, of Forty Fort, far right, as Pops. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_The-Beyonce-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>As family matriach Gran Marfs, Victoria Pennington, of West Wyoming, gives her granddaughter&#8217;s friend Sasha (played by Nicolas Gangone) a noogie, rubbing his head as the two engage in playful banter. Other cast members in the University of Scranton Players&#8217; presentation of &#8216;The Beyonce&#8217; include Zachary Pavlocak as Andre Andre, Ali Basalyga as Nadia&#8217;s mother, Nina; Nia Moore as Nadia, Julia Consiglio as Consuelo and Ellie Rosentel, of Forty Fort, far right, as Pops. </caption0><photoCredit0>Submitted photo  </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_The-Beyonce-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Pops, played by Ellie Rosentel, center, would like to see Nadia (Nia Moore) and Andre Andre (Zachary Pavlocak) get married as planned in the play &#8216;The Beyonce,&#8217; which is based on Anton Chekhov&#8217;s &#8216;The Fiancee.&#8217; The play will be presented Nov. 15 through 18 at the University of Scranton. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_The-Beyonce-5.jpg</photo1><caption1>Pops, played by Ellie Rosentel, center, would like to see Nadia (Nia Moore) and Andre Andre (Zachary Pavlocak) get married as planned in the play &#8216;The Beyonce,&#8217; which is based on Anton Chekhov&#8217;s &#8216;The Fiancee.&#8217; The play will be presented Nov. 15 through 18 at the University of Scranton. </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo  </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_The-Beyonce-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Her long-time friend Sasha (Nicolas Gangone) has some advice for Nadia (Nia Moore) about keeping her options open in the play &#8216;The Beyonce.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_The-Beyonce-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Her long-time friend Sasha (Nicolas Gangone) has some advice for Nadia (Nia Moore) about keeping her options open in the play &#8216;The Beyonce.&#8217; </caption2><photoCredit2>Submitted photo  </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>&#8216;The Beyonce&#8217; rooted in Chekhov&#8217;s &#8216;The Fiancee&#8217;</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Mary Therese Biebel</p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>Who:</strong> University of Scranton Players</p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;The Beyonce&#8217;</p><p><strong>When:</strong> Nov. 15 through 18 with performances at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Studio Theatre of the Joseph M. McDade Center for the Literary and Performing Arts</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $10 for adults and $7 for senior citizens, students and University of Scranton faculty and staff</p><p><strong>Box office: </strong> 570-941-4318</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Tough choice at heart of Scranton play