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Theater - 1986-1987

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The Good Woman of Setzuan

October 8–11, 1986

A play by Bertolt Brecht
Translated by Eric Bentley

Production Staff

Director: Dwight E. Watson
Scene and Light Designer: Brian R. Jones '82
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Stage Manager: Jeff Frederick
 

Cast List

Wong: Bradley R. Rickel '87
First God: Jim Amidon '87
Second God: Tom Bowen
Third God: Joe Anderson '90
Shen Te: Victoria James-Williams
Mrs. Shin: Julie Ludwig
Wife: Lynne Galassisi-Jones
Husband: Diosdado Gica '90
Nephew: Jason Hollis
Unemployed Man: Alvin Schuh '88
Carpenter: John Flak '90
Brother: David Schulz '88
Boy: Jeff Maharry
Grandfather: Joe Anderson '90
Shui Ta: Victoria James-Williams
A Policeman: Alvin Schuh '88
Mrs. Mi Tzu: Julie Ludwig
An Old Woman: Lynne Galassisi-Jones
Young Whore: Julie Ludwig
Old Whore: Lynne Galassisi-Jones
Yang Sun: Mark Hayes '88
Mr. Shu Fu: David Schulz '88
An Old Man: Tom Bowen
Mrs. Yang: Lynne Galassisi-Jones
Waiter: David Schulz '88
Priest: Jim Amidon '87
 

Production Assistance

Propsmaster: Karl Ellensohn '88
Lightboard Operator: Jay Baltisberger '89
 
Betolt Brecht, author of Mother Courage and Her Children, The Threepenny Opera, and Galileo, radically changed the theater of the twentieth century with his notion of epic theater.  In The Good Woman of Setzuan, three gods come down from heaven in search of a truly good person and discover Shen Te, a prostitute. She is hospitable to them, and in return they reward her with gold, which she uses to buy a tobacco shop. Immediately she becomes the victim of parasites, because in her goodness she cannot refuse help to the less fortunate. In order to survive she disguises herself as her imaginary evil cousin, Shui Ta, and as such operates her business shrewdly and profitably, with no regard for others. The play is a parable of humankind's enforced dual nature; our desire to be good is thwarted by our need to keep alive, or, if you prefer, it is more pleasing to the gods to be kind, but only the mercenary prosper. 

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.

Production Photo for The Good Woman of Setzuan

True West

November 18–22, 1986

A play by Sam Shepard

Production Staff

Director: James Fisher
Assistant Director: Lynne Galassini-Jones
Scene and Light Designer: Brian R. Jones '82
Costume Designer: Laura Conners      
Stage Manager: Alvin Schuh '88
 

Cast List

Lee: Paul Boger '87
Austin: Gavin Roberts '87
Saul Kimmer: Bradley Rickel '87
Mom: Sue Meek Ford
 

Production Assistance

Master Electrician: Kevin Sheridan '90
Lightboard Operator: Jeff Frederick
Propsmaster: Mark Tonner '89
Properties Crew: Mike Dicen '88, Chris Campbell '89, Mark Hayes '88, Chris Brown '89
Sound Technicians: Tom Bowen, Chris Brown '89, Peter Keenan '89
Graphics: Laura Conners
 
Sam Shepard, winner of five Obie Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for works Tooth of Crime, Buried Child, Fool for Love, and A Lie of the Mind is also a screenwriter (Paris, Texas) and screen actor (Country, The Right Stuff). His True West opens in a gleaming suburban kitchen in Southern California. Austin, a young screenwriter who is house-sitting for his vacationing mother, works furiously on a script which he expects to sell to Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer. His brother, Lee, has dropped in for a visit. A petty thief and unredeemed slob, Lee is about as different from Austin as they come, and the animosity between them is palpable. But Lee does have one half-baked idea for a movie, a “true-to-life Western.” Soon, Lee convinces Kimmer to drop Austin's project for his – and Austin finds himself drafted to help Lee write the screenplay. As the coyotes howl in the distance, the brothers work through the night, piling beer cans and garbage on their mother's immaculate floor.
 
NOTE: The photos of the two little boys on the poster are actually from an old Fisher family album.  Both Professor Fisher and his brother are pictured.
-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.

Production Photo for True West

Eden Creek

January 19-20, 1987

A collection of monologues by Dwight E. Watson

Production Staff

Director: Dwight E. Watson
 

Cast List

The Narrator: Jamie Ritchie Watson
Della: Jamie Ritchie Watson
Hattie: Jamie Ritchie Watson
Dr. Corey: Jamie Ritchie Watson
Abby: Jamie Ritchie Watson
Claire: Jamie Ritchie Watson

A world premiere by playwright and professor Dwight E. Watson, Eden Creek is based on the playwright's study of historical women's lives, as well as impressions of influential women he has known in his own life. For this important production (both as playwright and director) Watson cast the actress he knows and communicates with the best; his wife.  Eden Creek, published by International Readers Theatre, is available for purchase at various websites and in the Wabash College Bookstore.

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.

The School for Wives

February 18–21, 1987

A play by Molière
Translated by Richard Wilbur

Production Staff

Director: James Fisher
Assistant Director: Mark Hayes '88
Set and Light Designer: Brian R. Jones '82
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Stage Manager: Tyce Light '87
Assistant Stage Manager: David Schulz '88
 

Cast List

Arnolphe: Bradley Rickel '87
Agnes: Victoria James-Williams
Horace: Jim Amidon '87
Alain: Paul Boger '87
Georgette: Lynne Galassini-Jones
Chrysalde: Chris Brown '89
Enrique: Brian Engquist
Oronte: Michael Keller '88
A Notary: David Schulz '88
 

Production Assistance

Master Electrician: Mike Shaw '87
Lighting Crew: Brian Caplin'89, Mark Fritz '88
Lighting Board Operator: Phil Woods '88
Propsmaster: David Schulz '88
Properties Crew: Jon Jessup '90, Craig Lockerbie '90
Soundboard Operator: Kevin Sheridan '90
Sound Technicians: Phil Woods '88, Vic Kedinger, Peter Keenan '89
Costume Crew: David Schulz '88, Mark Hayes '88
Graphics: Laura Conners
 
This delightful play about a provincial bourgeois named Arnolphe who, in Molière's first great verse comedy, lives with the irrational fear of being a cuckold. He has avoided marriage for many years fearing his own possible humiliation, while happily gloating over his neighbors who have been deceived by their spouses.  He has become guardian of a child named Agnes, who grows into a beautiful woman, hidden away from the world by Arnolphe who has schooled her to be the “perfect wife.” As the play begins, Arnolphe is about to marry Agnes and achieve double satisfaction: he will quiet his long trepidation by marrying safely, and he will have the prideful pleasure of showing the world how to rig an infallible alliance. It goes without saying that Agnes is not his object but his victim. Of the four verse plays by Molière that Richard Wilbur has translated into English, The School for Wives is widely considered his best.

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.

Production Photo for The School for Wives

Elbow Rooms

April 15–18 and May 15–16, 1987

A play by Alexis De Veaux

Production Staff

Director: Dwight Watson
Scene and Light Designer: Brian R. Jones '82
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Choreographer: Victoria James-Williams
Sound Designer: Peter Keenan '89
Stage Manager: John Flak '90
 

Cast List

Langston Malcolm Marcus Black: Jeffery Cusic '87
William “Street” Wells: Mark Hayes '88
Professor Friedman: Bradley Rickel '87
Charles David Jordon: Chris Brown '89
Bernard Jeffries: Peter Keenan '89
Nick Spate: Frederick Greene '90
Rupert Matthews: Doug Starks
Biko Nkosi: Julian High '91
Tommie Fontaine: Ed Mendez '87
The Saxophone: Michael Nigro '87
The Trumpet: Charles L. Murphy '89
Chorus: Will French, Michael A. Robinson '87, Jamie Stallcup, Christopher Whitfield '88
 

Production Assistance

Master Electrician: Mark Fritz '88
Lightboard Operator: Kevin Sheridan '90
Soundboard Operator: Phil Woods '88
Sound Technicians: Victor Kedinger, Brian Nietzel
Projector Operator: Robbie Brundage
Projector Assistants: Mike Sprotsoff, Brian Caplin '89
Graphics: Laura Conners
 
Set on the campus of a fictitious college in northern Indiana, and written by Visiting Artist-in-Residence Alexis De Veaux, Elbow Rooms  is a multi-media presentation theater event that looks at some of the social and political pressures confronting several male students during finals week. 
 
Special note: The opening night performance was attended by Dr. Margaret B. Wilkerson, a Theater Scholar and Historian; Dr. Wilkerson presented a public critique of the work in the Lovell Lecture Room the next day.

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.

Production Photo for Elbow Rooms

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