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Theater - 2005-2006

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The Vaudevilles of Chekov

February 23–26, 2005

Short plays by Anton Chekhov


Production Staff

Director: Dwight Watson
Assistant Director: Brett Gann '07
Scenic Designer: James Gross
Lighting Designer: Donald Claxon '06
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Sound Designer: Braden Pemberton '07
Stage Manager: Tom Elliott '08
Asst. Stage Manager: Anthony Lewis '07
 

Cast List

The Alien Corn
Kamyshev: Nick Kraynak '08
Champugne: Wes Jacks '06
Misha: Danny Lippert '06
 
The Bear
Popva: Carrie Macy
Smirnov: Matt McKay '06
Luka: Jason Roberts '05
Gardener: Amy Young
Coachman: Mark Mattern '06
 
On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco
Ivan Ivanovich Nyukhin: Morgan Patchell '05
 
A Jubilee
Shipoochin: Chris Mehl '05
Tatiana: Carrie Macy
Hirin: Luke Elliott '05
Merchootkina: Jamie Ritchie-Watson
Shareholders: Wes Jacks '06, Jason Roberts '05, Danny Lippert '06
 
The Proposal
Chubukov:  Mark Mattern '06
Natalya Stepanovna: Amy Young
Lomov: Denis Farr '06
 

Production Assistance

Light Board Operator: Richard Winters '06
Sound Board Operator: Sterling Carter '07
 
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) is known principally for his full-length plays — The Cherry OrchardUncle Vanya, and The Seagull — but early in his career he wrote several farcical one-acts he dubbed "vaudevilles." Each of these short plays deals with a subject that Chekhov would continue to explore in his later, more famous work: love, in all its manifestations. The Proposal deals with a heated property dispute that derails a marriage proposal with outrageously funny consequences.  In The Bear, an enraged creditor falls spontaneously in love with his debtor's widow as she vehemently refuses to pay her deceased husband's debt. These two short witty plays, rife with characteristically Chekhovian insight, will share a bill with Chekhov's The Alien CornOn the Harmful Effects of Tobacco, and A Jubilee, plays of explosive relationships and comic anarchy.

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.

This is Our Youth

April 20–23, 2005

A play by Kenneth Lonergan


Production Staff

Director: Michael Abbott '85
Scenic and Lighting Designer: James Gross
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Stage Manager: Donald Claxon '06
Asst. Stage Manager: Reynaldo Pacheco '06
 

Cast List

Dennis: Andrew Dits '07
Warren: Wesley Jacks '06
Jessica: Naseema Mohammed
 

Production Assistance

Lightboard Operator: Thomas Elliott '08
Soundboard Operator: Tyler Bernet '05
 

Set on Manhattan's Upper West Side, This Is Our Youth follows 48 hours in the lives of three very lost young souls. Kenneth Lonergan’s award-winning play is a lacerating, meticulous, and hilarious snapshot of the simmering moment between adolescence and adulthood. The play takes place in Dennis Ziegler's apartment in March 1982. Dennis's friend Warren Straub, a dejected 19-year-old, has just been kicked out of his house and stolen $15,000 from his abusive lingerie-tycoon father. Dennis spends some of the money on cocaine, hoping to sell it to a friend of his for much more. Jessica Goldman, an "anxiously insightful" fashion student, comes over and Warren hopes that he can use the money to entice her into bed.  The play explores timeless issues of adolescence and maturity, as well as the Reagan Era in which it takes place: the characters feel adrift in a country that now rejects the 1960s-style liberalism that they were brought up to believe in.

The New York Times says, "In a season in which some of the wise men of the theater have been trying to force-feed insipid fare…to young audiences, it’s sheer relief to celebrate the return of a rambunctious and witty play about wayward teenagers and post-adolescents that doesn't turn youthful travails into plastic rap—This Is Our Youth—by turns caustic, cruel, and compassionate—is the real real world."


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 Andersonville Trial

October 5–8, 2005

A play by Saul Levitt


Production Staff

Director: Dwight Watson
Scenic and Lighting Designer: James Gross
Costume Designer: Laura Conners
Stage Manager: Donald Claxon '06
Assistant Stage Manager: Nick Kraynak '08
 

Cast List

Union Soldier: Janathan Grandoit '06
General Lew Wallace: Peter Wagner '06
Court Clerk: Richard Winters '06
Lt. Col. N.P. Chipman: Brandon Stewart '08
Otis H. Baker: Denis Farr '06
Captain Williams: Matt Olivarez '08
Henry Wirz: Aaron Mann '09
Lt. Col. Chandler: Jacob Peerman '09
Louis Schade: Reynaldo Pacheco '06
Dr. John C. Bates: Travis McLaughlin '09
Ambrose Spencer:  Emanuel Harper
Dr. C.M. Ford: Danny Lippert '06
James H. Davidson: Dustin Foster '09
Major D. Hosmer: Ross McKee '06
Jasper Culver: Matt McKay '06
James W. Gray: Ian Bensberg '07
Court Reporter: Tyler Williams '08
Newspaperman: Timothy Closson '09
 

Production Assistance

Lightboard Operator: Donald Claxon '06
Soundboard Operator: James Boyd '07
Poster Design: Austin Crowder '07
 
The Andersonville Trial is a striking courtroom drama about a famous event in American history: the military trial of Henry Wirz, who was commander of the Confederate prison at Andersonville during the Civil War. Torn by awful memories and coldly pursued by his prosecutor, Captain Wirz maintains he ran Andersonville as a soldier acting under superior orders. The crux of this stirring play raises the question of when the responsibility of the individual to the conscience transcends any power of authority.
 
It should be noted that The Andersonville Trial was presented by the Wabash College Theater Department as a special event to celebrate the centennial of General Lew Wallace’s death.  Wallace is renowned for his military actions in both the Mexican and Civil Wars, for writing Ben-Hur, A Tale of Christ (1880), and for serving as a member of various military courts, such as the one depicted in the play.  Wallace was a long time Crawfordsville native and was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in 1905.  The General Lew Wallace Study and Museum is also located in Crawfordsville.
 
A symposium at Wabash College was held on November 4, 2005, to celebrate the study of Lew Wallace’s life and the 125th anniversary of his novel. The Andersonville Trial was a precursor to this event. -Cody D. 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.

The Vietnamization of New Jersey?

November 9-11, 2005

A play by Christopher Durang


Production Staff

Director: Denis Farr '06
Scenic and Light Designer: Donald Claxon '06
Costume Designer: Richard Winters '06
Stage Manager: Janathan Grandoit '06
Assistant Stage Manager: Ross McKee '06
 

Cast List

Ozzie Ann: Matthew McKay '06
Harry: Peter Wagner '06
Et: Richard Winters '06
Hazel: Reynaldo Pacheco '06
David: Mark Mattern '06
Liat: Jessica Eidenberger
Larry: Peter Wagner '06
Father McGillicutty: Danny Lippert '06
 

Production Assistance

Lightboard Operator: Aaron Mann '09
Soundboard Operator: Timothy Closson '09
Poster Design: Austin Crowder '07
 

The Vietnamization of New Jersey (An American Tragedy) starts off with a New Jersey family who await their son’s return from Vietnam. Upon his return they discover he is blind and now has a Vietnamese wife. Allow bedlam to ensue. The play begins in a modest, mild-mannered New Jersey kitchen and spirals out of control from there. The play's entertaining characters deliver a fast-paced gut-punch of a performance that is both humorous and tragic.

Instead of performing the annual studio one-act plays, senior theater majors elected to mount a full-scale production. Students were responsible for casting, directing, designing, costuming, and acting in the play. The play was a triumph for Farr, Claxon, and the entire cast and production crew.

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 Braggart Soldier

April 19–22, 2006

A play by Jim Fisher
A farce feely adapted from Plautus and the traditions of commedia dell’arte

Production Staff

Director: James Fisher
Scenic and Lighting Designer: James Gross
Costume Designers: Denis Farr '06, Richard “Dickie” Winters '06
Stage Manager: Nick Kraynak '08
 

Cast List

Capitano Georgulio: Matt McKay '06
Arlecchino: Richard “Dickie” Winters '06
Pantalone: Dustin Foster '09
Bagatino: Denis Farr '06
Hero: Sterling Carter '07
Coviello: Janathan Grandoit '06
Isabella: Braden Pemberton '07
Laspari: Matt Ripley '06
Servants, Soldiers, and whatever: Ali Ahmed '06, Tyler Williams ’08, Danny Lippert '06, Joe Martin '06, Jake Sauer '09
 

Production Assistance

Lightboard Operator: James Gross
Soundboard Operator: Nick Kraynak '08
Costume Supervisor: Dana W. Fisher
Props: Brett Gann '07

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.

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