Page 16 - the NOISE February 2015

AN AMERICAN MASTERPIECE
TAKES ON NEW LIFE
As Theatrikids prepare for their upcoming performances of Our Town Trish Zilliox, Joe Manigia & Andrew Wright look on as Karis Newbury & Erin Buckley take the stage.
BY CLAIR ANNA ROSE PHOTOS BY RENE RIVAS
This February Our Town, the famed drama by Thornton Wilder comes to the Theatrikos’ stage as a Theatrikids production. On a January afternoon after school, rehearsal is underway, and it is fun to watch Theatrikids’ program director Joseph Maniglia as he works with the young cast on their roles. The atmosphere in the theater is full of excitement as the play begins.
Mr. Maniglia tells me about the play he is directing. “This is a thoroughly American drama and probably one of the best known or, at least, most produced plays,” he says. “It’s read by many in literature courses and performed by many theatre groups. While it is somewhat dated, the action in the play takes place at the turn of the 20th century, it is also very contemporary as it speaks to the ideas of life, love, and loss which are broad categories that are easily related to by audiences both young and old. It has been called an American masterpiece because of this timeless quality. Written in the 1930s, it shows the little nature of everyday life in a small WASPish New Hampshire town. Our Town touches upon Carpe Diem or seizing the day or in our more contemporary vernacular ‘YOLO,’ or ‘You Only Live Once.’”
The cast is made up of children ages 10 through 18. “FUSD students as well as charter school students have come together to paint a picture of our small home town of Flagstaff through the lens of the play, Our Town,” Mr. Maniglia tells me. “They are having fun learning about some of the peculiarities of taking our modern day socially-networked plugged in society and trying to understand a pre-industrial, turn of the century society. Along the way they have discovered some of the things that are true about both cultures: life is to be fully lived loving others. We have double cast many of the roles because we had such an in- flux of talented kids come out to audition. It’s been fun having them get to know each other and work together on this project.”
“The best part for me personally, has been to watch my life as it has been unfolding through this play. I first experienced Our Town as a high school student when our theatre department performed this classic play. Later in life, I again acted in The- atrikos production of this play in 2008. Now as an even older seasoned citizen, I have come to see some of the charm and freshness of this play, seeing this through the eyes of the actors themselves. I have come full circle in some respects and enjoy and learn from this classic drama even today.”
During rehearsal a few cast members agree to tell me about themselves and their involvement in the play. Seventh grade student Alaina Paul, was born in Anchorage and moved to Flag- staff as a second grade student. “This is my first play ever,” she tells me. “I heard about it from one of my friends and I came and auditioned. I play Rebecca Gibbs. I like that she shows more background for her brother George: what he’s like and what’s his
personality. I get to tell the story of his younger life.”
“I don’t really remember how I got involved in theater,” fifteen- year old Becca Howell tells me. “I was in my first show when I was seven or eight. Theater is my big interest and I like to read
and I write a lot.”
Ms. Howell plays the character of Emily. “We follow Emily
through her childhood to her growing up and getting married,” she says. “She dies very young, but she gets to go back and re- live one day of her life. She chooses her 12th birthday and she realizes she didn’t notice life for what it really was. She hadn’t really noticed the little things she should of.”
When now-15 Zack Hansen first auditioned for A Christmas Story at the age of nine, he wasn’t chosen for the original cast. “A month before they opened they called me and asked me to step in. I’ve done over 30 shows in the past five years. I have the part of George, the story tracks his whole life, from when he’s my age to when he’s grown up and married.”
“My first play here was Fiddler on the Roof last April,” Karis Newbury tells me. “I had auditioned for another show with an- other company, and I didn’t get in, so I tried out for Fiddler, and got in. I’ve liked singing since I was little, then one of my friends invited me to audition for Beauty & the Beast and I really liked it. I play Mrs. Gibbs. She is George’s mother. She has some comical lines and I really like that and she has a lot of depth. I think it will be a really good show and I’m pretty excited for it.”
Trish Zilliox is helping out as a volunteer with the Theatrikos program, hoping to learn about directing and at the same time, helping bring a great play to the stage. “We have two different casts of kids, there’s a lot of talent and it’s been fun,” she says.
Our Town opens 7PM Friday, February 20, then runs 2PM & 7PM Saturday, February 21 and 2PM & 6PM Sunday, February 22 at the Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse, 11 W. Cherry Ave. Theatrikids will also be bringing a performance of Our Town to the Peaks Senior Living Community and will offer a school performance as well. Theatrikos.com
A NEW PLAY AT THE CAFE
The Playwright Café will present an original play by Mac Groves, who has been a professor at NAU since 1992. Mr. Groves first became interested in writing plays in 1999. “I wrote Route 66: A Celebration of America’s Main Street because of a love of the old highway which became an avocation of mine once we moved here,”he says. “The play became an educational initiative of the National Park Service & the Route 66 Corridor Preserva- tion Program and we toured it up and down the old road for four years. It was a wonderful experience and something I had a knack for.”
On New Beginnings is one of two plays Mr. Groves wrote while on sabbatical from 2010 to 2011. “We built a lake house back in Oklahoma and were living there and I was wanting to capture the feel and substance of a little known area of our culture,” he says. “The environment of the play has played such a big role in my life and background, and we have returned to it from time to time, that I really wanted to capture some of the flavor of the story. I have known these women all my life and wanted to put them together in a cohesive story.”
The play took three months to write, a year and a half of devel- opment — rewriting, reformatting, readings, and a staged read- ing followed, cumulating in a production of the play at NAU in October 2013.
About the play, he confides: “Five middle aged women, from their 30’s to late 40’s and the 19-year-old niece of one of the women, are gathered for their weekly Bible study at the home of their Sunday School teacher at New Beginnings Baptist Church ... They do this regularly because it allows for a social time out- side of the church to interact and catch up on the gossip. Each brings a particular personal problem into the mix and each has to encounter those issues and sort through them within the play with only the support and friendship of one another. By the end of the comedy, their worlds have changed drastically but the true nature of their relationships is strengthened forever.”
On New Beginnings will be performed one night only — Febru- ary 22 at 6:30PM at Charly’s in the Hotel Weatherford. The Play- wright Café is a donation based performance with a suggestion of $5 at the door. Theatrikos.com
Angels in America, directed by Christina Gutierrez will be performed at NAU’s Clifford E. White Theater February 27 through March 8. Pre-show talks will be given before many per- formances. nau.edu/CAL/Theatre/Events
Additionally, Theatrikos presents Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure, by Steven Dietz, based on the original play by Wil- liam Gillette & Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and directed by Mick- ey Mercer, thru February 15. And Zoo Story by Edward Albee, directed by Mary Guaraldi and starring Michael Levin & Joe Sweet plays 2 weekends only, February 27 & 28 and March 6 & 7 at 7:30PM. Both plays are performed at the Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse. Theatrikos.com (928) 774-1662
| Clair Anna Rose has a penchant for persuasion.
editor@thenoise.us
16 • FEBRUARY 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us