Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1977-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1983)
he Lion’ prepare for show opening Harvey. “With a show this big, we all had to double-up on parts,” she said. Neil Hass is also a “techie” for the show. He is running the light booth and helping Ed DeGrauw design the lighting. “It’s all been pretty basic,” Hass said. “The only thing we’re doing differently than most shows is lighting the isles during the show. The actors run in and out through the au dience a few times and they have to see where they’re go ing,” he said. “So far, the only problem . is now to light the aisles without blinding the audience.” Don Williams, like DeGrauw and most of the tech. crew, has a small role on stage in this show. In the theater, world, such wordless parts are often referred to as “spear carrier” roles. In “Androcles and the Lion,” that’s even more ac curate than usual. “About all I do as an actor is stand on stage and hold this huge spear,” Williams, who is the show’s properties manager, said. This is Williams’ first show at the College. “It’s very, very exciting, he said. “This is an entirely new experience for me.” The unusual style and quantity of props in this show have made it impossible to simply buy the needed equip ment. “You can’t just go out and buy a sword,” Williams said. “So we’ve made all our own equipment.” The same holds true for the costumes department. While it is true that costumes and props have to work together in nearly all produc tions, a close working relation ship was imperative in “An drocles.” “This show has been much morë fun than last term’s show,” Charisse Smith said. Smith worked in the costuming department in last term’s pro duction of Agatha Christie’s “Appointment With Death,” and is working in the same department this time. “In the last show, most of our work was done sizing peo ple and buying clothes at Goodwill. This term, we have had to make the costumes ourselves. It’s been very fun,” she said. Staff photos by Duane Hiersche Smith-English creates theater sets By Dianna Hardy Of The Print costumes for show “I could make the polyfoam armor look absolutely real, but I don’t have to for this show. It isn’t true Roman because it’s Shaw. He’s using Rome as a platform for his feelings on religion. Some of the arms and armor are fan tasies from my own head. It’s been kind of fun. I’d never made anything quite like them before,” Miller said. “For the other costumes I’m using curtains and blankets from Goodwill. They’re perfect in their dilapidation.” Still, set and costume design is not his favorite occupation. “It’s a job,” Miller said. “I prefer ac ting and directing. If I had my ‘druthers’ I’d be doing that instead. I still do on oc casion. I’ve been in several commercials and a couple of minor movies. One, ‘Portland Expose,’ was so bad it was banned in Portland. It wasn’t obscene, it was just bad.” Miller had one piece of advice for students who considered entering into the technical aspect of theater: “Go into computer programming,” he said. “Theaters always need costume and set designers, but they don’t always have the money to pay. At the Universi ty of Utah I worked 60-80 hours a week , for just over $4,000 a year.” . “Lynn is a genius,” Jack Shields said. “We are very, very lucky. I got the idea for using polyfoam from Lynn several years ago and I’ve used it in four of my shows. Polyfoam is basically fun ny, so it fits the play. The show is a kind of cartoon. What the author is talking about is blown way out of proportion.” “All my friends innundate me with requests for help,” Miller continued. “I’m a great experimenter. They’re all new challenges. Luckily Jack doesn’t need me for set design.” Miller is also designing the set for the Wilson High School production of “West Side Story.” ' Wednesday February 16, 1983 Light Technician Neil Hass David Smith-English is a man whose talents help sup port the backbone of the theater department. He is responsible for all of the sets and scenery for the drama pro ductions at Clackamas. In addition to being a skill ed carpenter, his talents in clude many other areas that do not specifically coincide with theater. Before he switched to drama as a major at Lewis and Clark College, he was a voice major, studying classical music. - Smith-English is a voice teacher for theater work-shops in Portland, where he now lives, and also gives private lessons. He took twelve years of piano before he ever decid ed to become an actor. But this musical background has aided him in landing roles for three consecutive years in Washington Park’s summer musicals. He acted one of the lead roles in “Kiss Me Kate,” playing two parts; Petrucio and Frederick. “It’s a play within a play,” Smith-English said. The following year he acted in “Carousel,” and this past summer he directed “Oklahoma!” in the Washington Park Am phitheatre, a play that was viewed by 50,000 people dur ing the four night run. Set designer David Smith-English Even though Smith- English enjoys all kinds of music (his wife, Cynithia, is an accomplished opera singer) he is particularly fond of jazz, perhaps stemming from the fact that*he played trombone in a stage band while he was still in school. He gained further experince in music when he traveled in the New England area with the Funtastics, a musical review group which performed in Boston night clubs. After deciding to go into drama full time, Smith-English discovered a problem: how to design and build a set for a traveling children’s show. This was his project for a threater cla^s, and since learning carpentry skills, he has been at it ever since. He found that “Unless I did it, it wouldn’t get done,” Smith-English said. He was a partner in a small theater when this dilemma first came up. Currently, he is associated with a number of theaters, and has acted and directed many of the Gilbert and Sullivan plays. At present he is simultaneously holding audi tions for the play “The Petrified Forest/’ acting in “The Half-life Conspiracy,” and designing the set for the College’s production of “Androcles and the Lion.” The added problem with “An drocles” is that it will be presented here at the College and also at the Coaster Theater at Cannon Beach, so the set has to be moveable. As to which role he likes the best, either in acting or directing, he said,, “I have no preference. They’re both very interesting and exciting. I just want to continue doing what I am now,” he said. “But like everyone else, I want to make more money ... a lot more!” Page 5