The Katzen Arts Center promised to be a place where members of the Performing Arts Department could take risks and enhance their craft. The first performances there have used that sense of creative license to push the envelope and try new things: The American Five used mathematic equations as the basis for a duet between a synthesizer and a cello, and the Chamber Singers used kazoos to give the "Barber of Seville" a new life. But the AU Players, in conjunction with the PERF-552 Directing Techniques class, hope to push that envelope a little farther with their production of Eugene Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano" this weekend.
"We [the AU Players] have mostly done mainstream stuff, in fact the entire department only does realism," said Anne Veal, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the executive director of the AU Players. "It's not a criticism, because realism is a good way to learn how to act. But I felt it was a good time to expose the actors and the students to a new type of drama," said Veal, who is also the director of "The Bald Soprano."
That type of drama is the absurdist style. The play is filled with random events, farcical nonsense comedy and lines that don't make sense. One character speaks in backwards words and many lines are lifted directly from English language tapes. Surprisingly, those are the lines that make the least sense.
"It's basically a play about words," Veal said. "Words alone don't have any meaning; they are only a tool for communication. But the characters [in the play] use them as entities in and of themselves. So they talk a lot, but don't really say anything."
The play allows each actor to explore his or her full dramatic range and gives many opportunities for physical comedy. It also proves their tremendous ability to memorize lines, even when they don't follow a logical progression. "It's been a lot of work to get them right," said Grant Helms, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs. "The only way to do it is repetition, repetition, repetition. And word association. Her line ends in 'cockatoo,' cockatoos live in gardens; my line must be about gardens," Helms said.
The Bald Soprano especially showcases Veal's directing abilities. Since the dialogue of the play is so random, the actors really could be doing just about anything. Veal works with them after each rehearsal, giving specific criticisms and compliments. She even added three characters to the play that actually make it funnier than it would have been without them. The play serves as Veal's final project for PERF-552 Directing Techniques class and she's truly done a tremendous job.
"She's a theatrical genius," said Roddy Flynn, a sophomore in SPA. "She's a great actress and a great director. I definitely feel like she's helped my performance, and I'm glad to have worked with her again," Flynn added.
To try to explain the plot would be futile. Curious readers should check out the play Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Katzen Studio Theater. "Crazy things happen and you laugh because it's unexpected," Veal said. "But the craziness is not something created by the play. It's something reflected from our society"
