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February 14, 2006
Theater looks to Jesus, bowling
Following November’s popular and successful production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Hamline Theatre department continues its ambitious season with two very different plays. More Fun than Bowling, a comedy, will play during the first two weekends in March, to be followed the last two weekends in April by the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar.
Carolyn Levy, an assistant professor in the theatre department who teaches acting and stage direction, will direct More Fun than Bowling, written in Minneapolis by playwright Steven Dietz. The play is currently in the early stages of rehearsal.
The five person cast includes students Lance Hendrickson, Ruth Kohtz, David Nicholson, Amy Ollila and Mira Stancevic, plus an enormous, hand painted backdrop by scenic designer Sandesh Nicol.
The play deals mainly with “death and bowling” according to Levy, and although it uses bowling metaphors, language and lessons, no bowling takes place on stage; the bowling alley owned by one of the characters only exists offstage. Jake, the bowling alley owner and main character, reflects on his bowling-centered past and his life of taking chances and “leaping before you look.”
The small cast has only a few weeks to prepare, because the production will run the weekends of March 3-4 and 9-11. It will feature two first-year students, two second-year students and one junior, to complete the young cast.
Returning to Music
March will mark the highly anticipated return to musical theatre for Hamline. The department last performed the musical Into the Woods three years ago, and according to advocates in the department, it was difficult to convince the faculty to do another. The performance they selected, Jesus Christ Superstar, is a musically demanding rock opera written by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber that has been popular for years.
Utilizing parts of both a traditional pit orchestra and an electric rock band, all lines are sung by a large cast, with the role of Jesus requiring an immense vocal range as well as that of Judas being very physical and demanding.
Jesus Christ Superstar re-imagines the last days of Christ, mostly through the eyes of Judas, who is cast as a much more sympathetic character than in the Bible. It includes other sometimes-controversial deviations from the traditional Christ story, like a romance with Mary Magdalene and some mostly-shirtless Pharisees. This production is also likely to include female apostles and other “nontraditional” castings.
Auditions were held last week for Jesus Christ Superstar, and the performance will open on Saturday, April 21. There will also be shows on April 22, 27-29.
Posted by dwright at February 14, 2006 12:04 PM
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