Theater prepares to make audience laugh
■‘She Stoops to Conquer’ will open the
University Theatre’s season this weekend
By Monica Hande
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s been awhile since the University Theatre has
tried to generate laughs from a Robinson Theatre audi
ence. But that’s about to change beginning this week
end.
The University Theatre will open its new season
Friday with Oliver Goldsmith’s “She Stoops to Con
quer,” a late-18th-century comedy, and director Jack
Watson is ready to make audiences laugh.
“It’s not a play that’s going to teach anyone a moral
lesson,” said Watson, the head of the theater arts de
partment. “It’s pure slap-stick comedy.”
Watson said Goldsmith created the play because he
was determined to bring comedy back to the stage.
The story, which takes place during a single night,
centers on two rich, single men, Young Marlow and
George Hastings. Comedy prevails in their attempts to
court two young women, Kate Hardcastle and Con
stance Neville.
A practical joke by Kate’s stepbrother, Tony Lump
kin, results in a case of mistaken identity that sets off a
chain of humorous events.
“The whole play is about tricks,” said Bekki Barn
hart, who plays Kate. “It’s all about mistaken identi
ties.”
Although Barnhart, a senior theater arts major, has
acted in several University Theatre productions, “She
Stoops to Conquer” is her first experience in a comedy,
as is the case for Brian Henderson, who plays Hast
ings.
“I don’t really consider myself a funny guy by na
ture,” said Henderson, a senior philosophy major, so
this play has provided a challenge for him.
Regardless, both actors apparently demonstrated
the qualities Watson sought during casting.
“In the final process, I was looking for two specific
elements,” Watson said, “a grasp of the ‘style’ of
the period — a certain elegance and ease of
manner—and a willingness to take some jk
chances and be creative.”
And creativity was definitely some
thing the whole cast and crew brought JH v\
to the production, Watson said. A.
Watson “has given us free reign to ■WBfff
play with the script,” Henderson * jJA
said, referring mainly to improvi- jA w~
Turn to Theater, page 6B JjaAlw
Courtesy of
University
Theatre
Young Mar
low (Quinn
Mattfeld) attempts
rt Kate Hardcastle
LCC uses authenticity to build a better ‘Mousetrap’
■The long-running Agatha
Christie play will feature a set
and accents faithful to past
productions
By Mason West
Oregon Daily Emerald
Lane Community College is hop
ing to make a killing with its fall
play, “The Mousetrap.” The play,
by famous mystery writer Dame
Agatha Christie, will have audi
ences asking “whodunit” starting
Friday.
The director, LCC theater arts
Catherine Kendall Emerald
(above) Mollie Ralston (Rachel Beck) and Miss Casewell (Laurel Sturgis) interrogate Mrs. Boyle (Dandy
Pond) while (right) Sergeant Trotter (Chalan Moon) questions Mr. Paravicini (Patrick Torelle).
professor Eileen Kearney, decided
to produce this show at LCC after
remembering her first time seeing
the show in London, where it is
still running. One of the longest
running plays ever, “The Mouse
trap” has been performed in Lon
don for the last 48 years.
“It took off and never stopped,”
Kearney said. “Then it became kind
of a cult thing.”
The play is a textbook murder
mystery. The nine characters all en
ter the stage fitting the physical de
scription of a murderer who the au
dience has heard about from a radio
broadcast. From the beginning,
everyone is a suspect, and that is
exactly what Kearney wants.
As a form of audience participa
tion, there will be a vote box at in
termission where audience mem
bers can guess who they think the
murderer is. The prize for a right
answer is a two-for-one coupon to
LCC’s spring play, “You Can’t Take
it With You.”
Adding to the mystery of the
characters is the fact that the major
ity of their real-life counterparts are
new to the LCC stage. Kearney put
off casting until the start of the new
school year purposely to see what
new people had to offer.
“Some directors like to cast a fall
show over the summer,” Kearney
said. “But I didn’t want to, because
at LCC we get a fresh, new batch of
Turn to ‘Mousetrap,’ page 6B
lasty Thai Kitchen
RESTAURANT & CATERING
Authentic Thai Cuisine
• Ready-to-eook entrees and catering available
• Dine-ln or To-Go
Ihursdav-Mondav 4-9
3443 Hilyard (Imidejiffy Market) V
Voted Best Breakfast in Town!
By Eugene Weekly
Open Daily
7am-3pm
Breakfast Served
7am-3pm
Lunch Served Monday-Friday
11am-3pm
KEYSTONE
CAFF
♦ Redeem for a FREE BEVERAGE of your choice ♦
West 5th at Lawrence • 342-2075