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Show The Thunderhird Monday January 20, 1986 Page 9 Rink returns to SUSC stage Friday, January 24, at 8 p.m., there will be some magic occurring in the Southern Utah State College Auditorium. The magic will happen between a mother and her estranged daughter who meet again for the first time in several years. Thus begins the tale of The Rink, a new musical based on a novel by Terrence McNally. Recently performed at SUSC, the musical will be making an encore benefit appearance Friday. According to Fred C. Adams, the plays director, the Rink is a powerful story of relationships and the importance of communication. They (the mother and the daughter) reconcile their differences through a series of flashbacks. The Rink has been selected for regional American College Theater Festival competition, to be held at Mesa College, Grand Junction, Colo, on Feb. 1. In order to raise the funds to enable SUSC to send the cast and crew to Colorado, all tickets will cost $5, including those for SUSC students and season ticket holders. Its a great honor to be selected as a regional finalist, Adams said. There were 32 entries in the region this year, including productions from the University of Colorado, Utah State University, the University of Idaho, and Brigham Young University. Weve had rave reviews for this production, so its a pleasure to present it once again, for our first-tim- e audience and for the many people who have already seen and enjoyed it. The setting is a dilapidated roller skating rink; the audience sees the rink both as it was in its heyday in the 1950s, and in its present state of decay. The set, designed by Gary McIntyre, was constructed with ease of takedown and transport in mind; this was to conform to ACTF rules. The deparment will be transporting the set, a cast of 9, a crew of more than 20 plus members of the faculty to the convention which will begin on Jan. 29. Few people realize how much work goes into a show behind the scenes. For instance there are more than 71 One-act- s presented are back! You may have missed the one-act- s The one-act- s presented by Fred Adams Directing II class last quarter, but on Jan. 22, 23 and 24 you will have another opportunity to catch them. The performances are free and held each day at noon in the theatre, room 108. Adams says that his class, Was one of the largest Directing II classes Ive ever taught, and because of this class size some of the plays were held over until this quarter. schedule for Jan. 22 includes Brontosaurus The one-ac- t directed by Doug Christensen, and Preggin and Liss directed by Patrick Sterling. On Jan. 23, both The Deceivers, directed by Norman Bernard, a junior from Cedar City; and What Are We Going To Do With Mama, directed by Doug Austin, will premiere. Austin finds the role of director a challenge, and yet dispite the setback of having to replace two members of his cast relatively late in his rehearsal schedule, he is confident that the play, is going to work. Fridays performances of What Did You Say What For ? directed by Robert Young, and The Man Upstairs directed by Robert Herrick, close the one-actThe one-actaccording to Adams, are an Exercise in directing, not in props or scenic design or lighting. Students are strictly graded on how well they have interpretated the authors piece, on how well they have communicated that interpretation to their actors and how well their actors can portray that action. s. s, The cast and crew of The Rink are preparing to compete in Colorado. Brent Bateman, Robert Young, Tobin Atkinson, Kammy McComb, Todd Gibson, James Nelson, and Kenneth Wheeler rehearse for the upcoming benefit performance to show on Friday, Jan. 24. costume changes in this show, and 12 of them take audience can meet the cast and wish members well at place in less than 30 seconds. And all of the crew must the ACTF competition. be taken to make these changes possible. Adams said the competition will be extremely keen, People dont realize all the work that goes into a but we think that we have a couple of strong points in traveling production. Theres a lot of work just our favor. One is that we have a new musical, one that producing a regular musical, but when everything has hasnt been seen by very many people, and the second to be ready to fit in our truck and to be set up in is that we have a very strong cast. SUSC has done short order, thats just an added complication. But we well in the individual competition. very prefer to think of it as a creative challenge to be Tickets for the benefit performance can be reserved at overcome, said Adams. Tickets will cost 5$ to A reception and light refreshments in the Auditorium the theatre box office, help raise money for their competion in Colorado. foyer will follow Friday nights performance so the 586-787- Dick throws audience into a cartoon THEATRE REVIEW BY TYLER JENSEN Deadwood Dick or the Game of Gold ran like an old cartoon on Jan. 15. Dick, directed by Kenneth Wheeler, was Masque Clubs melodrama this year, presented along with Saloon Review, the oleos, Calamity Janes Man-Hudirected by Michael Michie. The show played on the Mainstage Jan. Dick had themes for each lead. When the music for Blackman Redburn (Michael Stasinos), alias Deadwood Dick, played the audience was supposed to boo and hiss; for Ned Harris (Patrick Sterling) and Wild Bill Hickock (Brent Bateman) we are told to cheer; and so on with the heroines, Lily and Rose Blossom (Glynis Adams and Teresa Francis) and one of the showgirls, La Paloma (Jayceen Craven). The audience didnt seem to understand this toward the beginning of the show, but some enthusiastic viewers helped to make other people more comfortable. This is one play that doesnt suffer from little character development. This show is one of the few with deliberate flaws. Sterling played Harris as the stereotypical Dudley against Stasinos characterization of Snidely Whiplash. Both worked well in their scenes together, many times better than in the ensemble scenes. Stasinos had a special challenge: He had to 14-1- Do-rig- act through a barrage of popcorn and trash thrown from the audience. Adams character was a parallel to Glenda, the good witch of the East from The Wizard of Oz. Adams and Francis mannerisms almost immediately established them as sisters. When Francis first sweeps on stage in the middle of the play, her exaggerated, flowing movements instantly identify her as one of the Blossom family. Francis innocence borders on the edge of stupidity. Calamity Jane (Kathy Etor) and Molly Loveless (Elizabeth Leisek) also played opposite each other, one as a fallen woman and the other as a woman of high principles. Both playing stock characters in a stock situation, this worked. Pong Ping (Tracy Burns), La Paloma (Craven) and Teetotal Tessie (Sandra Stiglinski) all add a special touch, being somewhat removed from the mainstream of the plot. Each plays extremely close to the rest of the cast but in their own subplots. They were less complex and easier to understand. Wheeler did some very good directing with this script. He gave each of the speaking characters at least one strange quirk. He also did some amazing work on the "pictures at the end of each scene. On the overall play, some of the jokes got old quickly and some missed entirely but this is only a melodrama. Two major contributions were Todd Dayleys sets and Sharon Harrisons costumes. |