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Show j f. "" ''MlUJilWP- m Mt M .W I -. (. I J .J JJKIIIMJI J tlMiiK " II - . II I "111" " I II - WWMW.LlJJ i .V . . ' . . ' " .- - . ) j " .... j it f I , - '.-, v J I - ; 1 ' ; : r ' "A-' -V : " ' r . . .. . v : . ... 1 ElOVtf PlciyinCj 1&ot to wn"J believe believe in feeling" h . :-;-.. .--: " V'-:.-f.S i- Sf I' . ..- .:..:$ w 8 i . '. J si: . ' i. ! i :; . ' 4 . , - "' ' -; o. ... 1 ' ? ' " - t ! i'f yy'v , yxy- y.'y-" :;'-:-'.:A:4'''Ui".y-' v..:':'-:..1. Steven Decker ponders his football future by Anne L. Burnett There's something special about going to see a new play. The event somehow manages to conjure up all sorts of expectations for audience members but there is also an air of suspense. An author is about to charter new ground (or least we hope it's new) and a group of actors are about to invent characters who may or may not have ever been played or created for an audience before. The Utah premiere of HORAY written by Univ. of Utah Instructor David Kranes is a special event that has not gone unnoticed. Last Friday and Saturday nights' performances were sold-out and with good reason. The word is out--barring some possible exceptions hooray for "Horay." The play marks the reopening reopen-ing of the newly remodeled Babcock Theater at the Univ. of Utah. The remodeling is nice but unfortunately not nearly as effective as the production that announces it. Remodeling architects have installed beautiful permanent perma-nent seating in a traditional proscenium manner leaving more stage than audience room within the theater facility. The seating capacity and design not only limits the number of people who can see productions at the Babcock but it appears that a good deal of the theater's original versatility has been lost. Unless I'm mistaken, the new seating permanent and wouldn't allow for productions in the round or three-quarter unless seating were actually placed on the stage. v Technical improvements, however, appear, to be , a major plus with a renovated light booth and eons of lighting positions. The Babcock Bab-cock is the junior theater to the school's Pioneer Memorial Memor-ial Theater built in the tradition of the grand proscenium pros-cenium stages. Most universities univer-sities in recent years have tried to utilize their "junior" or experimental facilities as an alternative to the traditional traditio-nal proscenium fair. The Univ. of Utah has apparently opted to duplicate or nearly duplicate its PMT stage but in "Horay" they haven't opted for : their usual PMT production. "Horay" has energy, meaning and a life all its own and this particular production could easily stand up on stages like the Los Angeles Music Center's Mark Taper Forum. The play is brought to life by university theater professor profes-sor Kenneth Washington who directs a mostly student cast with savvy and skill. The direction is particularly important im-portant since the play does not utilize a conventional storyline nor are its meanings mean-ings immediately apparent. The play is about the forces involved in today's game of football. It begins with a high school football star named Ray (played by Seven Decker) Deck-er) and his relationship with his non-star brother Tony (played by David Valenza). Mom ( Barbara Smith) and Dad (Larry Miles) are proud of Ray and apparently unknowningly create early pressures for Ray to excel at EVERYTHING. Try as he might, Ray can't shake the "pressures". They follow him to college where a new coach teaches him some new cruel lessons. It's at this point .(hat understanding the sophy of simple staging for complex plays and vice versa would appear to be appropriate appro-priate here. Aside from those weaknes-: ses the acting in this show is ; terrific. Decker' needs to develop his vocal power but his innocent all-American boy portrayal hiding another person is very nice. David Valenza as Tony and Mark Taylor as Eddie are two more standouts. Betsy, the girl who continually tries to "catch" Ray, is an actress to watch in Deborah Backman. As the high school coach, David Wiseman nearly steals the show. Hi3 portrayal of the college coach, however, wasn't nearly as effective but at least we see the attempt at . a separation of characters. Alan Echeverria is notable as the sportscaster as is Margo Andrews who plays Pamela. The cheerleaders and the pep band were exceptional. One of the most exciting things about "Horay" "Hor-ay" was the movement carried out by the cheerleaders cheer-leaders and Decker throughout through-out the play. Steven Hunt is listed as movement consultant. He and Washington's efforts may just win the production an American College Theater Festival award. The show is the school's 1982 entry and they hope to be chosen to perform it at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, Washing-ton, D.C. My suggestioncatch it before it leaves. "Horay" plays at the Babcock through December 12 (including a 2 p.m. matinee onthe Hthat 8 p.m. Limited seating Is available. Reservations are recommended by calling the school's PMT box office. play gets pretty difficult. What I think happens is the death of Ray's human spirit--in otherwords, the death of the person Ray would have been had he not been pressured into being something else all in the name of football. The tip-off to what happens in the play is in the program handout where the playwright'sdirector's play-wright'sdirector's notes quote an all-pro defensive ' football player from "American "Ameri-can Dreams: Lost and Found" by Studs Terkel. "...it's not right to be able to hurt people and not feel anything. I believe in feelingin feel-ingin not unnecessarily hurting someone. It's not right to go out and beat a dog or kick a cow. That isn't the way God intended for it to be. You understand what I'm - saying? When I'm througn with football, all those kind of feelings will be gone," quotes the football player. "I got to win" is the driving force of "Horay" and both playwright Kranes and director direc-tor Washington have conveyed con-veyed the message loud and clear. The clearest moments are in the first act when an effective blend of cheerlead-ing cheerlead-ing creates a bckground for a sketchy family dinner at Ray's house. The effect is dynamite. ' ; Later on in the act a harness is used to demonstrate how hard Ray pushes himself to be the best. It too, is effective. However, the play is closer to an avant-garde type presentation and is written that way. While Washington's Washing-ton's staging is effective and innovative, in places it's almost too much. The philo- |