Theater - 1995-1996

October 4–7, 1995

Ah, Wilderness!

• A play by Eugene O’Neill

• Production Staff
• Director: Michael Abbott '85
• Scenic Designer: Lonna Wilke
• Asst. Lighting Designer: Marc Doshi '97
• Costume Designer: Lorrie Blackard
• Stage Manager: Joe Lopez '96
• Asst. Stage Manager: Robb Wilson '97

• Cast List
• Nat Miller: James Fisher
• Essie Miller: Dana Warner Fisher
• Richard: Heikki Larsen '97
• Arthur: James Walworth '97
• Mildred: Anna Fisher
• Tommy: Sam Sherburne
• Lily Miller: Sue Ann Ford
• Sid Davis: J.R. Sherburne
• David McComber: Matthew Boudreaux '98
• Murial McComber: Chelsea Barker-Switzer
• Wint Selby: Chad Barylski '99
• Belle: Ramona Zachary
• Norah: Rachel Miller
• Bartender: Joshua Cohen '99
• Salesman: Bryan Thomas '97

• Production Assistance
• Master Electrician: Marc Doshi '97
• Lightboard Operator: Jeff Duarte '96
• Soundboard Operator: Andy Reinke '85

• Ah, Wilderness! is an affectionate, humorous portrait of a small-town New England family written by America’s foremost playwright, Eugene O’Neill. Subtitled “A Comedy of Recollection,” Ah, Wilderness! stands alone among O’Neill’s plays as the only comedy he ever wrote.  According to O’Neill, the play was “…a sort of wishing out loud…the way I would have liked my boyhood to have been.”  Set during a turn-of-the-century 4^th of July holiday, the play follows the exploits of 17-year old Richard Miller, a sensitive revolutionary at odds with his parent for reading “dangerous books.” As O’Neill wrote to a friend, “For me it has the sweet charm of a dream of lost youth, a wistfulness of regret, a poignantly melancholy memory of dead things and people-but a smiling memory of those who still live.”

Director's Notes

Assistant Director's Notes

Poster

Poster #2 

February 21–24, 1996

Glengarry Glen Ross

• A play by David Mamet

• Production Staff
• Director: James Fisher
• Scenic and Lighting Designer: Lonna Wilke
• Costume Designer: Lorrie Blackard
• Stage Manager: T.J. Ronningen '99
• Asst. to the Director/Understudy: Michael Kebrdle '99

• Cast List
• Shelley Levene: Jonathan Foust '97
• John Williamson: Brandon Jay Lyda '99
• Dave Moss: Joshua Cohen '99
• George Aaronow: Tom Lustina '99
• Richard Roma: Jeph Duarte '96
• James Lingk: Ben Deufel '98
• Baylen: Robb Wilson '98

• Production Assistance
• Master Electrician: Matt Bottoms '96
• Lightboard Operator: Chet Craft '98
• Sound Operator: Alex Costa '96
• Sound Technician: Matt Bottoms '96
• Deck Crew: Will Strain '98
• Propsmaster: Joe Lopez '96
• Graphics: Ezra Ball '96

• The winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama, David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross offers audiences a snake’s-eye view of the real estate business. In that world, knowing the shot, closing the deal, and getting up on the Cadillac board are all that matter. And desperation reigns. 

• The New York Times’ Ben Brantley wrote "[it] feels like having espresso pumped directly into your bloodstream." Brimming with intense, crackling dialogue, Glengarry Glen Ross reveals the dark underside of the American Dream. 

• The following items were also included in the program for Glengarry Glen Ross:
  • -A list of quotes from various critics, all concerned with the original New York City opening of Glengarry Glen Ross
  • -A biography and list of works by David Mamet, written by Howard McNaughton
  • -An interview with David Mamet by Esther Harriott from August 1984
  • -An interview with David Mamet by Henry I. Schvey entitled Celebrating the Capacity for Self-Knowledge
  • -An article entitled American Theater Watch 1983-1984 from Georgia Review Volume 38, Fall 1984.
  • -An article by Jennifer Allen entitled David Mamet’s Hard Sell from April 9, 1984.
  • -An article by James Cook entitled Life as a Salesman from Forbes May 21, 1984.

• It is obvious that Professor Fisher believed these documents were important to the understanding of the production. However, these do not directly relate to Wabash students.  I decided to list them so that one could look them up or find them in the Wabash College Archives, but I did not believe they were essential to the documentation of the Wabash College Theatre history project. -Cody Grady '10 Summer 2008

This page is part of an ongoing project to document the history of the theatre productions performed at Wabash College.  If you have information not included on this page, please contact the Theater Department or Professor Dwight Watson (watsond@wabash.edu).

Dramaturgical Notes  

Poster

April 17–20 and May 10–11, 1996

Scratch

• A play by Archibald MacLeish

• Production Staff
• Director: Dwight Watson
• Set and Lighting Designer: Lonna Wilke
• Costume Designer: Lorrie Blackard
• Stage Manager: T.J. Ronningen '99
• Assistant Stage Manager: Kevin Wiley

• Cast List
• Daniel Webster: Dan Hartnett '99
• Scratch: George Belmore '01
• Jabez Stone: Luttrell D. Levingston
• Seth Peterson: Jonathan Foust '98
• Mr. Weston/John Webb: Robb Wilson '98
• Mrs. Weston/Juror #12: Rachel Miller
• Susan/Juror #11: Anna Stern
• Porter Wright/Juror #9: Michael Kebrdle '99
• Tom/Juror #7: Alan Williams '98
• Garnett/ Juror #10: Mark Cevallos '99
• John/Capt. James DeWolf: Steve Mathys '99
• Robert/Captain Kidd: Kevin Wiley
• Justice Hathorne: Brandon Jay Lyda '99
• Aaron Burr: Doug Stuart '96
• Charles Lynch: Jeph Duarte '96
• Dr. Benjamin Church: Marco Noyola '96
• Juror #8: Ezra Ball '96

• Production Assistance
• Properties: Joe Lopez '96
• Deck Crew: Ray Meyer '99, Curt Smiley '97
• Make-up Designer: Jonathan Foust '98
• Graphics: Ezra Ball '96
• Lightboard Operator: Will Strain '98
• Soundboard Operator: Giles Emory

• Suggested by Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story, “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” Scratch, by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and poet Archibald MacLeish, dramatizes the tale of Jabez Stone, a farmer who sells his soul to the Devil for prosperity and then convinces the great orator Daniel Webster to save him. A midnight trial is set in the old barn of the Stone farm, where the crafty Devil summons a jury of the dead and damned in this mythic lawsuit. Webster is left to defend Jabez with only his wit and eloquence.  MacLeish called Benet’s story “a tall tale in the grand style of the old Northeast, which got its salt from the sea, its rum from Barbados and its imagination from the dying embers of the long, wild, winter nights.”

Poster