'Death of a Salesman'
Opens Tonight
Drama Portrays Man
Who Has Tragic Flaw
“Death of a Salesman,” Ar
thur Miller’s play which opens to
night at the University Theater
under the direction of Frederick J.
Ilunter, instructor in speech, is the
tragedy of Willie Homan. The time
of the play technically is one day—
from midnight to midnight. How
ever, through glimpses into the
past, the play draws on events
which happened years before.
Each flashback, however, is mo
tivated by action on the stage. As
Linda Is Willie's
Character Prop
Jeanne Gortfredson, graduate in
speech and costume mistress of
UT, who plays Willie's wife Linda,
• sees the character as Willy's
"foundation and support.” As Gott
fredson sees her, Linda has two
goals in life. One is to keep Willie
happy and the second is to keep
the famiiy together. "Linda,” she
says, "is the more intelligent of the
two and tries to guide Willie. But
she fails to realize Willie's ideals
are false and to foster these will
lead to his downfall.”
Jeanne Gottfredson is new this
year to the University. She has had
major roles in Idaho State's pro
. (Fictions' of “Joan of Lorraine,”
"The Great Big Doorstep,” “John
Loves Mary,” "Dark of the Moon”
- and "Two Blind Mice." Linda will
be her first role at Oregon.
.AHENCE SUITER
♦ ♦ ♦
Sufier Believes
BiffjConfused
. Clarence Suiter, junior in speech,
who Biff, sees the character
as a mai who has been blown full
-of hotair by Willie. Say Suiter,
“Biff is^m man who has«been badly
“disillluifoned.” This disillusionment
Js shor^i in the play. When Biff’g
impies^ons are shattered by Wil
lie, he finds he has trouble adjust
ing hiitp?elf. During the play Biff is
confused and frustrated, but by the
end he^realizes he is just an aver
*age main.
Suiter is a transfer to Oregon
but has appeared in many plays at
.DSC. There he had leads in “The
Autumn Garden,” "Heaven Can
Wait” and “Born Yesterday.” Last
summer he was with the Black
Hills Playhouse and had major
roles in “Petticoat Fever,” “The
•Beautiflsl People,” and “The Leg
end of iSjvil's Gulch,” He appeared
this fattjas Papa in “The Happy
Time.”
Miller says: "There if) nothing mys
terious or difficult about it. Just
as you may be sitting and talking
to a friend, so does Willie.
"And then your friend says
something that makes a strong
connection in your mind with
something that happened in your
past. And although your friend
goes on talking, unaware that your
thoughts have moved to another
time and place, you exist, you
think, you feel and in your imagi
nation you argue, love and fight, in
the present and in the past at the
same moment. So it is in this
play."
“Death of a Salesman,” says
Hunter, "is the tragedy of the com
mon man and a tragedy of a man
having some capacity for suffering
and enduring as a tragic hero be
cause he is capable of working his
own destiny.”
PHIL SANDERS
Hap Seen As
Much Like Willie
Phil Sanders, senior in speech,
who plays Willie’s son Harold.
"But at West Point they called him
Happy’’—sees Hap as a little guy
with big ideas. “Hap Loman," says
Sanders, "is merely a duplication
of Willie Loman in a more modern
age.” Happy has the idea that
money, cars, women and an apart
ment make a man successful. As
Sanders expresses it, “You can
see Willie's false ideals reflected
in Happy.”
'Salesman' Tickets
Available atTheater
Tickets for “Death of a Sales
man,” University theater’s pro
duction which will open tonight,
are still on sale at the box office
from 1 to 5 p.m. Tickets for next
week’s performances will be
available from I to 5 p.m. Mon
day through Friday. The produc
tion will run February 6, 7, 11,
12, 13 and 14.
Blue Sees Willie
As 'Little Man'
Jim Blue, senior in liberal arts,
who plays the featured role of
Willie Loman in "Death of a Sales
man,” says "Willie is the little man
who has set his sights too high
and has based his dreams upon the
false aspects of our society.”
Willie’s philosophy, “Be will-liked
and you’ll never want,” brings
about the disillusionment of his
sons and his own final destruction.
Blue says, “Willie Loman—the
little man with too big a dream—•
is one of the most demanding parts
in recent American theater be
cause Willie is a composite of so
many Americans. Willie’s tragedy
is important to all of us.”
Cast Includes 14
Willie Loman, Jim Blue
Linda, Jeanne Gottfredson
Biff, Clarence Suiter
Happy, Phil Sanders
Bernard, George Johnston
Miss Francis, Joice Batch
Charley, Jim Weaver
Uncle Ben, John Bree
Howard Wagner, Glen Yost
Jenny, Sally Mollner
Stanley, Bill DeLand
Sam, David Sherman
Miss Forsythe, Diane David
Letta, Carol David
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Student Designed Set
Contains Three Rooms
A set which can only be describ
ed as impressionistic will be re
vealed to first nighters tonight as
Death of a Salesman” begins its
six-performance run.
The set, first one this season to
be designed by a student, was de
signed by Larry Bissett, junior in
art, under the supervision of How
ard L. Ramey, instructor in speech.
Lighting was also done by Ramey,
who is the technical director for
JIM BLUE
the University Theater.
Set Has Three Rooms
The entire set has three rooms,
with the floored-up orchestra pit
and both aprons providing addi
tional acting areas. The fore stage
area is used for scenes outside the
Loman home, and the stage proper
is set with two bedrooms and a
kitchen.
• The entire house is surrounded^
by dark masses which symbolize
the crowding in of the apartment
buildings. In the left downstage
corner is a tree which has died—
even as Willie Loman—from the
confinement of the buildings. Dur—
ing the memory scenes, the pattern
of light through leaves of the tree
is seen on the stage.
Jensen Assists
The assistant director of "Sales
man” is John Jensen, sophomore -
in speech. Electrician and switch
board operator is Harold Long,
senior in speech, assisted by Eliza
beth Mcllveen, freshman in Eng
lish. Stage manager is Marilyn
Miller, freshman in liberal arts;:
property master is Gordon Rennie,
junior in speech; assisted by Gor
don Burtner, senior in speech. Con
struction crew are Pat Adkisson, .
sophomore in education; Paul
Maier, sophomore in liberal arts,
Paula Poppenheimer, freshman in
liberal arts, and David Sherman,
freshman in journalism.
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