From left, Aidan Iannarino, Jordan Zelvin and Cameron Williamson take part in a dress rehearsal for the staging of the Netflix animated series “BoJack Horseman,” which will be the inaugural performance at Denison University’s Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts. [Timothy E. Black] ▲ Aidan Iannarino, left, as BoJack Horseman and Jordan Zelvin as Princess Carolyn during a dress rehearsal [Timothy E. Black] ▲ Michael D. Eisner ▲

The inaugural performance at Denison University's new Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts will be a live version of the animated Netflix series "BoJack Horseman." The theater department's famous alumnus and benefactor, Eisner, runs the company that produces the critically acclaimed show.

Jordan Zelvin has played few roles that she has felt more connected to than Princess Carolyn — an anthropomorphic pink Persian cat.

The junior theater and education major at Denison University in Granville will play Princess Carolyn in the stage adaptation of an episode of the animated Netflix series "BoJack Horseman," which opens Thursday and runs through Wednesday. The special engagement will be the inaugural performance in Sharon Martin Hall of the new Michael D. Eisner Center for the Performing Arts.

The show centers on BoJack Horseman, a washed-up Hollywood star; Princess Carolyn is his agent.

"Princess Carolyn is saying things that I've heard myself say," said Zelvin, 20, from the Chicago area. "In one of the scenes toward the middle of the play, she is talking to BoJack, and he had just said that he never asked for help or for her to save him. She says, 'You're constantly asking that,' and she can't give anymore.

"I feel a lot of women in their 20s can relate to that."

The series, which will release its sixth and final season later this month, has been praised for telling serious human stories through silly animal cartoon characters.

That juxtaposition thrilled theater department chairman Mark Evans Bryan when Eisner, a Denison alumnus and benefactor, suggested that the school perform an adaptation of the show — which is produced by two of Eisner's companies — to christen the new theater space.

Eisner, a 1964 graduate of the theater program, said he was drawn to the show created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg because of the dynamic — and comedic — characters.

Plus, "it's brilliantly written," the 77-year-old former chief executive officer of the Walt Disney Co., who now runs the Tornante Co., which produces "BoJack" along with Michael Eisner Productions.

He said they have considered "BoJack" for the theater before, and he felt that the opening of Denison's performing arts center provided the ideal opportunity to do it.

"I told them to have fun with it," said Eisner, who enrolled at Denison because it was co-ed and a nice change from the busy pace of New Jersey, where he attended an all-male preparatory school.

He so enjoyed his four years at college that he is a life member of Denison's Board of Trustees and didn't hesitate to contribute funds for the new arts facility when he was approached with plans by university officials.

"They were in need of a facility, and I thought the location was nice," Eisner said. "I liked that it was interdisciplinary — not just plays."

The 108,000-square-foot center is the new home for the dance, music and theater departments. Faculty and staff moved into the $25 million facility in the spring. (The Eisner Foundation is reported to have donated more than $5 million for the center.) Sharon Martin Hall, which can seat nearly 400 people, is one of a number of performance spaces.

For Bryan, the adaptation of an animated TV show to the stage presented challenges.

"In an animated television show, they usually invent absurd actions and do things in the physics of their universe that we can't do," he said. "It's a world of anthropomorphic characters, and that part was really challenging, but I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity to try."

The first thing he had to do was choose an episode to perform and, after consulting with Eisner and producers on the show, he decided on an episode from Season 3 that was written by Kate Purdy. Bryan said he was more of an arranger of the play's script, because he remained "pretty faithful" to the writing, for which the show has been praised.

The episode, titled "Best Thing That Ever Happened," takes place in a restaurant at a critical juncture in the relationship between BoJack and Princess Carolyn — who have known each other for more than 20 years — as he fires her as his agent.

Bryan and Peter Pauze, an associate professor of theater, knew they didn't want the small cast of about 15 students to be walking around stage in cheesy cat and horse costumes.

"We wanted to walk the line between not trying to be a realistic cartoon but still reminding the audience that, 'Hey, this is a cartoon,'" said Pauze, who helped design the set.

To do this, they have employed a system reminiscent of shadow puppets. The actors are dressed as their characters would, as giant cutouts of the animal they are playing appears on one of three screens.

The furniture and props are two-dimensional painted plywood, to better resemble a cartoon.

Still, even in the 40-minute play, the characters deal with loss, enlightenment, love and heartache.

"I agree with all the critics that it's the most serious funny show," said Pauze, who binge-watched the show after the school decided to perform it. "It's just done under the silly guise of a horse person and cat girl, which gives you license to explore tough questions without being heavy-hitting."

For the actors, having a new performance facility adds to the excitement.

"It's absolutely beautiful," Zelvin said. "It's sort of surreal to play to an audience that large."

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