Destination Duluth Artist Profile Series – Elsa Persson, a senior at UMD, plays a leading role in the upcoming "The Importance of Being Earnest"
Elsa Persson is a senior at UMD
The UMD Theatre Department has had the long-standing reputation of being one of the most exceptional in the nation for their staff, their facility, their course work, their productions, and for the experiences they offer their students. Student Elsa Persson is in her final year of school at UMD for two degrees: a BFA in Acting and a BA in Music with a classical voice emphasis. She is excited to be playing one of the leads in UMD’s upcoming production of Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Elsa said, “I have been inspired by how many possibilities we have here at UMD from musical theatre to acting, to design, and production, and even other majors that relate to performance such as film studies and vocal performance.”
“Beyond a great education and training, I feel that UMD Theatre has broadened my world view in general, making me a more emotionally open and understanding person. I am very grateful for every experience I have had here,” she added.
Elsa in UMD Opera Studio’s “Guys and Dolls”reading a book about female psychology in her hilarious solo “Adelaide’s Lament.” (Photo credit Peter Mundale)
At UMD, Elsa is also currently accent coaching for a production of Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene,” teaching actors New York, German, Italian, and Swedish accents. Besides her role as Lady Bracknell in “Earnest,” she will also be performing in “Street Scene” with the UMD Opera Studio and as Trinculo in Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” with UMD Theatre.
While in Duluth, she has also performed in two professional operas with Lyric Opera of the North (LOON), in “Cavalleria Rusticana” in 2023 and of “La Bohème” ”in 2024. “Duluth is truly lucky to have a company producing such spectacular operas, LOON cultivates a great community from artists near and far, that I have loved being a part of,” she explains.
Behind the scenes of “La Bohème” with (LOON) in what Elsa describes as one of her favorite operas.
Outside of the theatre, she loves to run, hike, cook, and play the violin and piano. As a first generation Swedish American, Elsa grew up with many connections to Swedish culture and language. She has visited her family in Sweden a few times and would like to become better at speaking the language by spending more time there.
Celebrating the holiday of Midsommar, Elsa made her own flower crown out of hand-picked wildflowers.
“One of my favorite parts of living in Duluth is Lake Superior. It lifts my spirits every single time I visit it, which I make a point to do often.”
Loving her time enjoying the beauty of the Lake is one of the things Elsa will miss about Duluth.
“Finding” the Character of Lady Bracknell
“Lady Bracknell is a powerful, fun, hilarious, and difficult role. One challenge of playing her is her age. I am 22 playing a woman who is around 60, which is difficult as an actor since I do not have the personal lived experience of that age,” Elsa said.
“She is also vastly different from me—she believes in strict, objective societal rules and class structure and finds safety in tradition. These parts of Lady Bracknell as a character can be difficult to tap into, but I find a lot of fun in making bold choices as an actor and finding both her ridiculousness and her queen-like power,” she added.
Persson has the role in common with her director and UMD’s Theatre Department head, Rebecca Katz Harwood, who played Lady Bracknell in a production of “The Importance of Being Earnest” at Duluth East High School. The two have shared ways to help Elsa “find” the character and the complexities of the character’s thoughts, motivations, and patterns of speaking.
Elsa noted, “Oscar Wilde wrote this play with the intention to satirize the Victorian English upper classes for their fixation on rules. I hope audiences leave the theatre taking the world less seriously!”
An informal behind-the-scenes picture of the “Earnest” cast, including their stage managers, assistant director, and Director Rebecca Katz Harwood, who all enjoy “playing” together in the rehearsal room.
Information on “The Importance of Being Earnest”
By Oscar Wilde
Directed by Rebecca Katz Harwood
UMD Theatre Marshall Performing Arts Center October 11-19.
October 11,12,16,17,18 at 7:30 pm October 13 at 2 pm ASL performance October 19 at 2 pm & 7:30 pm
For tickets, call the box office at 218-725-8561 of go to tickets.umn.edu
From UMD Theatre: Our 2024-2025 season opens with Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest.” Wilde’s self-described “trivial comedy for serious people” stylishly satirizes the upper class and romantic comedy tropes of his time while enchanting us with characters whose happy ending we cheer.
