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Show Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 Page 5 AggieLif• Utah State University • Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com Not your average Shakespeare play By GENEVIEVE DRAPER staff writer "Forget all preconceived notions that Shakespeare is boring," said Felicia Stehmeier, a senior majoring in theater. With a 65piece orchestra playing Felix Mendelssohn's score, and the USU Women's Choir all onstage, this production is truly a collaborative effort of the Caine College of the Arts. "We have worked pretty hard to make non-boring, vomit-less Shakespeare," said Richie Call, a visiting assistant professor of theatre arts who is directing "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Lance Rasmussen, a sophomore majoring in theatre who is playing Bottom in the play, said, "Shakespeare is meant to be seen onstage. There are things in the script that don't make sense unless you act them." Rasmussen said many people are deterred from enjoying Shakespeare because they've been exposed to it in school where it's often presented as dry. The play was cast in early October with 28 actors. Twenty are theatre majors, but there are five other USU students involved, as well as a 2-year-old, a community member and an associate professor. The audition itself involved some different aspects. Stehmeier said in addition to the standard monologues, there were six fairy pictures on display which the actors used as inspiration for a prepared, one-minute movement piece performed as part of the CAST MEMBERS OF "A Midsummer Night's Dream" perform during a dress rehearsal in the Morgan Theatre.The Shakespeare play runs Dec. 8-11 at 7:30 p.m. and features a 65-piece orchestra and the USU Women's Choir. ARMEN HOVSEPYAN photo audition. Call said this idea was Camille Litalien's. Litalien is an assistant theatre professor who specializes in movement and dance and choreographed the show. Call said the movement pieces varied from actor to actor. "Some were very ballet-y and some had no other dance experience," Call said. Litalien's choreography emphasizes the movement of the fairy world in particular. There is rope dancing and gymnastics in addition to more dance-oriented fairy movement. Jackson Simmons, freshman theatre major playing a fairy, said he has more sound effects than lines. "You are telling the story with your body," Simmons said. He said this helps makes the play very understandable, even with the Shakespearean language. "The play incorporates a lot of movement. You're creating something," said Jessica Jackson, a junior theater major, playing the fairy Moth. Because Jackson is not a dancer, she said working so closely with Litalien and the movement choreography has allowed her to explore movement more studiously. The orchestra score makes this production of "Midsummer" a unique experience that is different than other productions of the play, Call said. The orchestra continues to play for several minutes after the dialogue ends, meaning the actors have to incorporate a visual. "Who are Puck and Peaseblossom and Mustardseed? The music makes a great opportunity to showcase their fairy world." Call said. The fairy world is well represented in the set, said set designer Dennis Hassan, associate professor of scenic design and assistant department head. Though the play is set in the time period of Mendelssohn's score, the 1820s, and has period costumes, Hassan's set focuses more on the fairy aspect, with a circular walkway onstage reminiscent of a fairy circle. However, the spiral staircase prominent across the stage does incorporate the early 19th century popularity for spiral staircases. The stage has what is called a "unit set," where it doesn't change a lot in the course of the roughly twohour play. Hassan's design has opportunities for dramatic entrances, while still allowing the orchestra to be seen in the back, the conductor actually stands on the stage. A path winds through the orchestra, and the fairies interact with and respond to the orchestra, Hassan said. "The thought was of weaving in and out of their fairy world. The queen comes down from above and the king comes up through the sand," Hassan said. He considers the set a type of sculpture with abstract aspects. Call said he thinks the music, the set, the costume and the cast have all combined to make this production the play that Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers in the world wrote. He said everyone involved has brought their own idea of what the world of the play is. "My job is to rein all of them in to one world," Call said. Stehmeier said doing Shakespeare and working with Call has been a different experience than previous shows. "He really pushes you," Stehmeier said. The cast has held rehearsals five days a I See PLAY, page 7 Cache Valley family grateful despite tragic loss By TAM ROUNDS staff writer The Wentz family has suffered some major setbacks over the years, yet as they contemplate the upcoming holidays, their focus is on what they are grateful for and their dreams for the future. They are famous locally for their annual Halloween haunted yard on Canyon Road, Deads End. Locals may also know that their yard and home were destroyed in the 2009 Logan Northern Canal failure. Tom and Linda Wentz moved to Logan from Ohio 28 years ago. When the economic downturn of the 1980s caused the shutdown of the steel mills, where his family had worked for generations, Tom found himself looking for work. Upon the promise of a job, they packed up and headed west. When they arrived in Cache Valley, that job was unavailable. Tom said he eventually found work at Thiokol and they set about raising their family of nine children here in Logan. In 1996 they settled into what the Wentz's refer to as "their happiest place," their home on Canyon Road. Deads End began when they were asked to put on a haunted yard for the local church youth group. All 11 Wentz's have a passion for Halloween. "We are Halloween people ... it's a fascinating time to us. Fall's coming in with the leaves and the color," Wentz said. "To us it can be a paper skeleton sitting on your door or it can be heavy like us. Halloween is a fun-loving type of thing." The Wentzs put all their effort into the haunt, creating homemade decorations and special effects. When the community saw the incredible results of their efforts, they came by to check it out. The Wentzs decided to create an annual tour, free of charge for the public. Each year they started building new sets in January, and revised their haunts each time. Fall of 2009 was to be their 13th production. To capitalize on that number's traditionally frightening significance, they worked harder than ever. Then, on Saturday, July 11, 2009, the landslide caused by the canal break devastated the neighborhood. "About three minutes to noon, we heard the rump that shook the house and we ran out in the front yard ... water was everywhere and the gas lines all broke and filled the air with gas, power lines fell down in the water," Wentz said. Wentz said the gas was burning their eyes as they rushed to evacuate. "A young guy across from us ran out into that water — I don't know how he wasn't killed — and he took a rake and he held up the electric lines and we all jumped in our cars and took off," he said. The landslide caused by the canal break displaced 18 other TOM WENTZ AND his youngest daughter MacKenzie are two of the faces behind Deads End, an annual Halloween haunted yard. Tom lost his home in the 2009 Logan Northern Canal failure. AN/ MIRZAKHANYAn photo people and killed a mother and her two children. Wentz said as much as they lost that day, he will be forever grateful that his family is intact. Having no other family to turn to, they sought help from local organizations to support them. Wentz said they soon found that nobody was prepared to fully deal with the situation. The local church and Red Cross provided them with a few supplies, but they were forced to spend the next three and a half weeks in sleeping bags on their daughter's studio apartment floor. Their sons slept in their vehicles. Wentz said when they were finally allowed into their home, the water had destroyed their possessions. The home was unfit to live in and their homeowner's insurance would not cover any of their losses. They went to 78 landlords looking to rent before they found a house to live in. Understandably discouraged by the local response to their need, the Wentz's were amazed when approached by a private citizen right before Christmas of 2009. The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered to give them money to compensate the tax value of their former home. Wentz said the man wanted to ease the suffering he was reminded of every time he drove down Canyon Road. The Wentzs used the money to pay off their mortgage, yet they I See LOSS, page 7 |