EAT performs play in a “new way”
The English Alternative Theatre offers students a unique performance of “August: Osage County” for Labor Day.
By Brandy Entsminger (Contact)
Friday, August 29th, 2008
Alcoholism, drug abuse and incest are the issues faced in “August: Osage County,” a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play coming to campus on Sept. 1.
Paul Stephen Lim, professor of English and founder of the English Alternative Theatre, said the play featured a dysfunctional family that students and the community could identify with.
“The stories that are told are fairly universal,” Lim said.
Cast member Roberta Gingerich said the play focused on one woman’s relationship with her three adult daughters. She said all of the characters in the play struggled with problems such as alcoholism, drug abuse and incest.
“They are not the pretty issues of our society,” Gingerich said.
The English Alternative Theatre will present the play in a new way: as a concert reading.
Lim said concert readings were unique because they helped bring works of literature and theatre to a broad audience without the use of a full set, such as scenery, or costumes.
“It’s like letting the words jump off the page,” Lim said.
With a concert reading, the actors generally hold their scripts and sometimes remain seated on stage until their scene begins.
Jim Carothers, professor of English and cast member, said the biggest challenge of a concert reading was bringing the story to life for the audience. He said it helped the performers to imagine they were performing a radio drama because the tone of their voices carried the emotion of the play.
Amy Devitt, professor of English and cast member, said actors should know the play thoroughly for a concert reading so they could focus on interacting with the other actors.
“It’s a challenge to just interact with your voice and not your body,” Devitt said
University faculty, retired faculty, alumni and local actors will make up the production’s cast. Many of the actors have performed together before.
Lim said it helped for the actors to be familiar with each other because it would be easier for them to find the chemistry needed to play a family.
He said it would also be helpful since they had such a short time to rehearse before the reading. The cast will begin rehearsals on Saturday.
“I know what they’re capable of and they know how I work so we can talk in a kind of shorthand,” Lim said.
Lim said the majority of new American plays are limited to five or six cast members and a small set because of the cost. “August: Osage County” is unique because it calls for a three-story set with an attic and 13 cast members.
The English Alternative Theatre presents concert readings of current plays free of charge every Labor Day. Lim said it made theatre affordable for KU students.
The concert reading will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at the Lawrence Arts Center.
—Edited by Brieun Scott
Discussion
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I am confused. I think this is just a staged reading, which isn't new, and when I took a class with Lim, he often encouraged us to attend when they were put on.
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