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Show i 1 , 72S8"- v . V.i i . - V ' r ' " ' '" 7 ' - ' ;-Tr::! ' " X : ' V s : ! , 3tf t - 'i; X- . vv x ' 1 i i i Y.r? . "iv ' w V :': X I i S I .fiVjk , j ';;'; " : i ; i -i X x? 'X- , Ll Mrs. J. Pamell Turkey of Sioux City, Iowa, portrayed -I by Jolly Stanford, and her husband, J. Parnell (Jim 'Si Lundberg) blissfully snap away at the lovely scenery (and the rocks and the tumbleweeds) while they enjoy SaltLake TV film crew captures 3'Best of the West(?)" for show , j By Beth Heggeness Moab and some of its residents will, in the near future, be in the spotlight ;'; on Salt Lake City's KUTV Channel 2. A film crew from that television sta-, sta-, tion was on the scene in ei Moab last Saturday to , -2 record some footage of the - Moab Community Theatre's The-atre's Statehood Day pro-,3 pro-,3 duction of "Best of the West," written by local l author, Edward Abbey, q and directed by Michael-i:, Michael-i:, ene Pendleton. The play, the first (and ! probably last, according to the author) done by Abbey, was written es-d es-d peciaily for Statehood Day s: on January 4, 1978. The k Moab Community Theatre 7 had been asked to provide ii some entertainment perti-s perti-s nent to this year's theme, c "Outdoor Recreation in lei Utah." Theatre representatives represen-tatives then approached Abbey, who agreed to come up with something. Abbey, a well-known and very ardent advocate of the "environmentalist" j. Position, produced a 0,, "mortality in one-act" (to c'r w his words). His '., Wished product, "Best of the West," stereotypes all k of the forces lined up to y "squabble" over the use 3( "'public lands in Utah. o!; Becomes Interested bi ,Diane On-, producer of nannel 2's "Extra"-a magazine" show aired n Wednesdays at 6:30 f Pm--became interested in the play after learning about its production in a somewhat roundabout way. "I got an invitation to Statehood Day," she explained, "but it didn't mention that there would be a play at all." An article appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune after the Statehood program mentioned the fact that a play by Ed Abbey had been performed, and listed list-ed all the characters. After reading the article, Diane then happened to talk to some of a busload of senior citizens who had been down to Moab for the program. They raved about ' 'Best of the West. ' ' A long-standing "fan" of Ed Abbey, Diane thought that it would make a good show to interview Abbey and illustrate illus-trate his views about wilderness and recreation with scenes from the play. After contacting director Michaelene Pendleton, the show was on . . . Diane is excited about this Moab segment of "Extra." She feels that Abbey is "a good writer and a passionate writer-outrageous, writer-outrageous, but wonderful." wonder-ful." She thinks that Abbey's viewpoint, as well as his opponents', should be made known to the public. Although people may believe otherwise, said Diane, Ed is really sympathetic sym-pathetic to all groups surrounding the issue of public lands. "He understands under-stands the economics," she commented. In Ms. Orr's interview with Abbey Ab-bey they will discuss his perception of the wilderness wilder-ness issues. Insults Everyone "Best of the West" is a very polarized view of the wilderness issue, and it was Abbey's intention in the play to insult everyone. every-one. The show is perhaps also intended to make ople able to laugh at themselves and begin to see other viewpoints as well. All the "caricatures" "carica-tures" of the play are so ridiculous and yet so very real. There are two "Sahara' "Sa-hara' ' Clubbers, played by Dannelle Stevens and Retsik Nod; a D-9 driving, CB-talking Bull Dozer (Ron Dickerson) ; two Winnebago Win-nebago campers, . played by Jolly Stanford and Jim Lundberg, Mr. and Mrs. J. Parnell Turkey of Sioux City, Iowa; Al McLeod as the Lonesome Cowboy; an Indian (Michael Ashcraft) ; Bernie Bush, a smoking-sagebrush smoking-sagebrush who represents the "author" of the situation, portrayed by Bill Higham; and of course, a Ranger (Julie Walton). The characters just can not seem to agree about the use of the land and wind up in a terrible squabble. Each one simply simp-ly screams about his own view without listening to the others. 1 1 l c L : 1 .-.-I , v:-v, I; ! '"r'fvi- '' : ) ' ;-; 1 z A.y i?' ! , ;-- f f "dian ;.enraman' catcnes a closeup of Michael Ashcraft, who plays the part of J nt ur land West-" What ia he saying? "White man, go home. We should K Tne Indian represents yet another view on how our western jj 10 retreated. (Photos by Beth Heggeness) Filming Show Diane's film crew spent a good part of Saturday filming interviews with Ed Abbey, the actors, and the director; and in recording all the aspects that they needed from the 20-minute production of "Best of the West." The Moab Community Theatre members had fun participating in a ' 'moving picture" and were fascinated fasci-nated by how it was done. With a wide angle lens on his camera, Ken Fall first filmed the play from halfway back in Star Hall. The crew then moved up to the stage to do-close-ups of the actors, or "tight shots." Short segments seg-ments of the play were reenacted over and over as Ken zeroed in on different characters in the same scene. As the actors were recorded on film, their voices were also "on the record" as heard by technician Larry Roberts. Judith Hallet assisted in placing the lights, directing direct-ing the actors and the camera angles. It would be difficult to "guesstimate" the hours of film and tape that Diane and her crew will finally have to work with but eventually it will all be condensed into the "Extra" "Ex-tra" show which will be aired sometime in the next few weeks. Actually, said Judith, there would be only 18 minutes air time in the half-hour program. Diane commented that probably everyone on her crew will join in helping her to edit the bits of film and tape into a coherent show. The filming lasted from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 and when it was all finished there was a general sigh of relief. It had been a very demanding day for everyone actors and crewmen. Will Air Soon Ms. Orr said that she felt the results would be good. She mentioned that she and her crew had really enjoyed coming down and not only for the filming. "Of course, we couldn't come here without with-out driving out to Arches and running through the biggest arches we could find!" Diane commented. The trip just wouldn't have been complete somehow. some-how. Diane also said that she was willing to air views from the "other side" if there was sufficient interest. inter-est. She will certainly notify the Times-Independent in advance of the exact date of the Moab show. And last, but not least, she hoped that everyone would enjoy the "Extra" show as much as she and her crew had enjoyed working with the Moab Community Theatre to film it. |