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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2000)
■The department has put all of its energy into a mammoth production of a critically-acclaimed play By Joe Walsh Oregon Daily Emerald It’s not easy to recreate a man’s life story in one theater produc tion. But that’s exactly what the Uni versity Theatre Department is do ing for the next three weeks, be ginning with tonight’s performance of “The Life and Ad ventures of Nicholas Nickleby.” The production of “Nicholas Nickleby,” a play based on the novel by Charles Dickens, caps a year-long celebration of the 50th anniversary season of theater pro ductions at the University’s Robinson Theatre. The enormous scope of the production - which contains 140 named characters, requires three directors and runs in two three-hour parts - is a fit ting tribute to the theater’s golden anniversary. “We were looking for a project that would involve everyone in the program and that would be much bigger and grander than anything we’ve done before,” said University Theatre’s develop ment director Joseph Gilg, “and we narrowed it down to ‘Nicholas Nickleby’ fairly quickly.” Although the story - which chronicles the life of a virtuous young man in Victorian England - takes six hours to tell, Gilg said he prefers not to focus on the length of the show. That tends to turn off audiences right away, he said. “I liken it to a good novel - the kind that you can’t wait to read the next chapter,” Gilg said. “The story is put together in that way. It’s so engrossing that as an audi ence member it just sort of draws The naked truth about the crew behind the ‘Nickleby’ costumes While most people at “Nicholas Nickleby” will be focused on the acting, they might not realize that the performances are the culmi nation of almost a year’s work for the costume crew. University theater arts professor Alexandra Bonds started researching “Nicholas Nickle by” last June by reading the original novel and the script for the play, and watching the movie and researching the dress of that time period. t Afterwards, she roughed out costume de signs and began fittings in January. “We’ve been going full speed since then,” she said. Bonds heads the costume crew, which in cludes 45 University students who costume upwards of 140 named characters in the play. And that doesn’t even include costumes for the crowd scenes, which boost the total num ber of costumes to almost 200. Many of the costumes came from the Uni versity theater department, though some were borrowed from the local Willamette Repertory Theater or culled from national costume searches. Some of the costumes were also made by students in one of the theater department’s costume construction classes, Bonds said. Students learned advanced sewing tech niques and applied their skills to construct ing parts of costumes. “It’s great that the curriculum coincides with the play,” Bonds said. “That way, the students get to learn two things at once.” — Jessica Blanchard you in.” Since its 1980 premiere as a theater production, the prodi gious “Nicholas Nickleby” has re ceived equally grand praise. It won the Tony Award and the New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for 1981 and was hailed as one of the greatest theatrical tri umphs of the 20th century. But because of its demands on a the atre’s resources, the play is not of ten mounted or seen. While the University Theatre has done large productions in the past, “Nicholas Nickleby” is the largest in 20 years, said UO pro fessor of costume design Alexan dra Bonds in a press release. And while the play’s 32-member cast is not any larger than.many of the musicals presented over the years, the fact that most of the ac tors present four to six characters each is remarkable. “It’s in fact doing two plays at once,” Gilg said, “and even though we regularly do that, we don’t regularly do it with the same people. That’s where the challenge comes in.” Besides the logistical chal lenges of casting, organizing re hearsals and determining which actors would wear which cos tumes in which scenes, the de partment also had to create count less props and costumes. With as many as 70 different locations and more than 150 characters, in cluding the unnamed crowds of people in the streets of London and elsewhere, the department had its hands full. Senior instructor and Universi ty Theatre designer Janet Rose faced the challenge of creating those 70 different scenes all on one set that could be transformed to the various locales by the use of different props and characters. “Even though we’re doing a massive show, Robinson Theatre didn’t get any bigger,” Rose said. Rose, who is also organizing the lighting for the play, said she will use approximately 200 light ing cues throughout the show. An average production uses closer to 60, she said. Preparing for the overwhelm ing play was a long and tedious process that began in the winter of 1999 when the department chose “Nicholas Nickleby” as the single production that would in volve everyone in the depart ment. After months of prepara tion and with the opening performance right around the cor ner, everyone involved is ready to go “What we’re looking forward to at this point is the moment we get tHe audience in,” Gilg said. “They’re going to see a delightful story. I just think that all the ener gy is going to be real infectious with our audience.” Part one of “Nicholas Nickle by” opens tonight at Robinson Theatre in Villard Hall with part two following on Friday, May 19. Part one will be performed on Thursday evenings, May 18, 25, and June 1; at Saturday matinees, May 20, 27, June 3; and at a Sun day matinee on May 21. Part two will be presented on Friday and Saturday evenings, May 19-20, 26-27 and June 2-3 with a Sun day matinee on May 28. Curtain times are 7 p.m. for all evening performances and 1 p.m. for all matinees. Tickets for “Nicholas Nickle by” are available at the Hult Cen ter and the EMU ticket office. Tickets are $10 for the general public; $8 for senior citizens, fac ulty and staff; and $5 for UO stu dents with a $1 discount for Thursday performances. Patrons will need separate tickets for each part of the production. Proceeds from tickets sold by the Community Internship Pro gram for the May 21 matinee will benefit that program. For more information, call 346-4351. Letter laments long distance dilemma Dear Harlan, My boyfriend and I went out for 10 months before I left to study here in the states. We have had a long distance relationship ever since. We recently had our 1 year and 7 month anniversary. When I left we had talked about staying together, but that we could see other people. That nev er happened, and we decided to be monogamous. I was able to go visit him during winter break and he came over during Easter. And it was great. But now he wants to do the "open to other relationships thing” and I don’t anymore. I agreed to it before because we did not know how things where going to be, or if we were going to be able to talk. Yet things have worked fine and we talk every day. Now, I don’t want to be with anyone else. He says he loves me and does not want to break up, but he does not have me there and it is hard on him to not do anything (sexual) with anyone when I am not there. He just wants to play around just to fool around, but still have me as a girlfriend. Still, I know it’s going to hurt the day he tells me about other girls and I don’t know if I want to be his girlfriend while he goes out with other girls. I am so confused and don’t know what to do! I love him, and he has been faithful for eight months of distance, but I don’t know if I can deal with this. Yet I don’t want ter ruin every thing...please help! - Delirious over the distance Dear Delirious: It’s just so "(insert expletive) stupid" when two people in love can’t be together because of long distance. The only way these distance things work out is with trust. If you’re always thinking he’s out messing around with some other girl when you can’t get in touch with him you’ll never want to touch him again. If you’re going to be together forever you need to be in this thing together. If you need a monogamous relationship and he’s not willing to provide it, he might not be the guy for you. Not being with other partners is part of being in a relationship. If he can’t deal with it he should n’t be in this thing. Random sex is meaningless. The longing to be with you physically is part of this thing. This is part of loving from afar. It’s not easy. It sucks at times. It takes work. If he can’t meet Advice Ask Harlan his sexual needs alone he needs to visit you more often or get cre ative. If he can’t han dle it maybe he needs a break. That’s what it means to be in an adult relationship. Express your feelings and see what he has to say. Maybe, one of you can relocate sooner then planned. If he can’t commit and you need him to commit, this thing is only going to slowly dete riorate. I only hope love will con quer all... Dear Harlan: I was really hurt by a guy, but he didn’t really know he hurt me. He is only after sex and sees it as a game. I find it more emotional and something that should be shared with someone in a relationship. Well, I did something bad, and I got really hurt by it. I still like this guy a lot, but I know' he does n’t like me. I’ve never told him how I feel, but I need advice on if I should tell him or not. Should I tell him how much he hurt me and how much I like him? I have not spoken to him in over a week, but I’m not really sure how things are between us. I just want to be with him, but I know he’s not ready to tie down. So what should I do? - To tell or not to tell Dear to tell: If you need to talk to him, make sure you stand far enough away, so he can’t reach out and undo any of your buttons. That would be something bad. You know what he’s all about and what he’s after so do your best to stay away from him. Clearly, you need someone who understands you and won’t take advantage and hurt you. Tell him what you need to tell him, but know that he can’t give you what you want and need. There are plenty of guys who share your feelings. Don’t do something bad with someone bad. It will only make you feel bad. Harlan is not a licensed psychologist, therapist or physician, but he is a li censed driver. Write Harlan online at: www.helpmeharlan.com. All letters sub mitted become the property of the col umn. ^I_IH^I686-2458 t3 ■ m 492 E. 13th Ave www.Dijou-cinemas.com mm six AggiuM ras imsjim THE VIRGIN SUICIDES Pi\: . 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