Provided

"Rain Upon Remembrance" takes place at the A.D. White House Feb. 16-18.

The A.D. White House is the setting and the stage for "Rain Upon Remembrance," an original performance piece written by students and based on the life of Andrew Dickson White, Feb. 16-18 at 8 and 10 p.m. The one-hour performances will be interactive, with audience members carrying secrets, taking sides and becoming part of the story.

Co-creators Juliana Kleist-Mendez '12 and Anya Gibian '12 have transformed the A.D. White House into a fanciful world of secrets and illusion for their tale, which combines theater, song and dance and tells a sweeping and intimate story of fealty, family and betrayal. Fourth-year architecture student Andrea Onorato has helped to transform the house from a historical landmark into a setting where anything can happen.

Directed by Kleist-Mendez, the piece is a promenade-style installation. Once inside, audience members can explore the house at will and are free to follow the characters of their choice as multiple plotlines convene, develop and disperse. The audience will be actively engaged by the ensemble.

"Working inside the A.D. White House is a dream; there is so much history and sense of Cornell pride," Kleist-Mendez said. "We wanted to give the audience members a wondrous setting where they would be free to pursue who and what interests them. It is a perfect place for our story to take place."

The play was originally conceived as a physical adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Henry IV."

"I love Shakespeare's histories, because although there are so few women, they are all really strong and interesting," said Gibian, who plays Lady Percy. "Lady Percy caught my attention because she only appears in three scenes, but she has one of the most famous speeches ('O yet, for God's sake, go not to these wars'). I started thinking what the rest of her life looked like. And it developed from there."

The performance evolved into an investigation of the parallels between White's personal history and Shakespeare's text. Ensemble members straddle these two worlds, acting in both historical and literary roles (Gibian also plays the president's daughter, Clara).

Kleist-Mendez and Gibian founded ParaCosm Theatrics to create "performance that brings the audience into the world of the play, to have them explore the space and story intimately and independently," Gibian said.

"The audience is a huge part of any performance," said "Rain and Remembrance" co-creator James Miller '12. "We're trying to acknowledge and enjoy that fact by making them part of our story."

Seating is limited and tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. For information and tickets, visit http://www.paracosmtheatrics.weebly.com or email paracosmtheatrics@gmail.com. The show is appropriate for ages 16 and up.

"Rain Upon Remembrance" was developed in collaboration with students from Cornell and Ithaca College, and was funded in part by a grant from the Cornell Council for the Arts.