[Clackamas Print
ntertainment 5
Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006
[heater Dept, takes on ‘absurd’
dam J. Manley
l Clackamas Print
director David Smith-
Bish wasn’t afraid of a chal-
L when he chose Edward
lee’s “A Delicate Balance”
the Theater Department’s
Er show.
[This is not easy stuff,”
Smith-English. “This is
[lenging stuff and the intel
lice, the preparation, the
ht that [the actors] bring to
I- and the willingness to
[pen and work - has made
process very exciting.”
jest known for “Who’s
lid of Virginia Woolf,”
[e is a playwright known
[writing intelligent shows
I a staggering amount of
llexity. With scripts so
[that they seem unreal, it is
loo easy for a novice direc-
|r performer to miss cru-
il ibtext in the dialogue.
I had the opportunity to
|k with [Albee] about 10
ago when he came on
>us,” said Smith-English,
were doing one of his
K at that time - ‘The Lady
[Dubuque’- and he came
ie of the rehearsals.”
Ilbee was there to give
leech and the reception
Lard was held at Smith»-
lish's house.
when he came in he said,
lid, let’s go someplace, in
per room where we can
I...
lone, and talk about our
play,’” said Smith-English.
Revitalized by the experi
ence of actually discussing the
performance with the origi
nal playwright, Smith-English
believes “The Lady From
Dubuque” was an astounding
success. He carries that unique
perspective with him as he
brings “A Delicate Balance”
to life.
“A Delicate Balance” is
about a dysfunctional family
and their friends struggling to
maintain balance in their lives
and relationships.
Hard to pin down
as either comedy or
drama, it finds itself
categorized as the
ater of the absurd
-a classification
which Albee finds
absurd in itself.
When compared
to his works, the
innate absurdity of
many non-absurdist
writers, such as Neil
Simon,
becomes
apparent. The same
complexity which
can make Albee’s
works a challenge
to understand also
makes them more
like life.
Yet, even after
discussing
this
with Albee, Smith-
English still prefers
the absurdist genre
to describe Albee’s
works. .
“In absurdist theater there’s
always a force that enters into
people’s lives that you can’t
control, you can’t even
understand, you some
times can’t even iden
tify it,” Smith-English
explains. “It just drops
into your life, and you
have to deal with it in
someway. And often
times people can’t
deal with it at all, but
it’s still there and it
won’t go away.
'A Delicate Balance” opens
in the .Osterman Theatre on
March 2 and performs every
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
at 7:00 p.m, and Sunday at
2:30 p.m. until March 12.
ABQ.VE: (from left)
Sarah Wilson, direc
tor David Smith-
English,
Daphne
Starling, and Matt
Morrison. watch a
rehearsal of the
play-
LEFT:
Artist-ln-
Residence
John
Renner
(bottom)
rehearses with stu
dents Sarah Griswold
(left) and Daphne
Starling on a partial
ly completed set.
Photos by Adam J. Manley Clackamas Print
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genius having sexual relations tious, self-involved brats felt they
with a drag queen street musician were ‘suffering artists.’ The few
named Angel who is also HIV pieces they did present as art
The Clackamas Print
positive.
were unworthy of such a labor.
Throw in a few more char The song Roger took over a year
The. screen adaptation of acters and the essential plot is to write is juvenile and cliché rid
Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer and this: starving artists amidst the den, Maureen’s performance art
Tony Award winning rock opera, AIDS epidemic who want to live was laughable, and Mark’s film
“Rent” is now available on DVD. an untraditional lifestyle while “Today 4 U,” is as bad as the title
leads on.
“Rent” depicts a year in the “measuring their lives in love.”
This film fails in several plac
Oh, and there is a lot of sing
life of eight friends struggling
es.
to live in New York City’s East ing. ,
The first and biggest problem
I could never decide whether
Village. The story is character-
narrated by filmmaker Mark who it was Chris Columbus’s direction is that the characters are never
still longs for his ex-girlfriend that prevented me from grow developed properly. They are
Maureen, who in turn now has a ing an emotional attachment to simply introduced as the lesbian
the characters, or the characters lawyer, the S&M dancer/junkie,
lesbian lover named Joanne.
Mark’s roommate Roger, an themselves. Regardless, I found and the drag queen street musi
HIV-positive musician and for the ensemble cast’s acting unbe cian.
From there everything falls
mer junkie, is dating Mimi, a lievable, overdramatic and a bit
apart.
drug-addicted S&M dancer who cheesy at times.
Am I supposed to be shocked
I spent the majority of the film
is also HIV-positive.
Mark’s HIV-positive former trying to figure out why these and moved when a dead Mimi
roommate, .Tom, is a computer untalented, middle-class, preten- miraculously comes back to life
due to the divine intervention of
a dead drag queen? When Roger
sang “Thank God this moment is
not the last,” I was disappointed it
wasn’t over yet.
By over-creating a cast of
characters to include every untra
ditional lifestyle, these lifestyle
choices are then put into a nega
tive limelight by association with
the characters’ downfall. The
scenes were over-created as well,
coming across as too gritty, with
too much graffiti, litter and flam
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