Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2012)
ü e Clackamas Print Wednesday, Mardb-J^20l-2 aced @ cla ckam as.ed u ArtXCulture in lit if B y w 1 H t ^7^11 S a m M unger (left), acts o ut a scenew ith other members o f the cast in ‘The Crucible in which J o h n Proctor refuses to sign his nam e bn a confession th a t he- knotvs is a lie. ‘The Crucible’ brings witch trials to stage By Brad Heineke Ad Manager Lust, greed, jealousy and fear. These are some facets o f hum an nature which can bring out the ¡worst, in people. Public panic arid hysteria can have dangerous results as demonstrated in “T he Crucible,” the current play o f the Clackamas Com m unity College Theater Arts Department. , T he play, written by Arthur Miller, focuses on the Salem during the House Com m ittee-on Un-American Activities hearings and it parallels to the unfound ed panic and “witch hunts” o f M cCarthyism . C G C ’s striking poster for thé play also acknowl edges this tie. T he hundreds o f names on it are m any o f those o f some who were blacklisted as Com m unists during this tim e o f “red-baiting.” Miller himself was one o f those listed as he refused to identify people w ho were present at meetings he had attended. ----- I t T>rirvp;s t o C |lx e s tlo iX S o f Miller wrote the play in 1953 which is part o f w hat makes this play so powerful and enduring. * T he set, costumes and strong performances produced by the theater departm ent capture the era o f the Puritan N ew England tow n during this dark time in American history. T he talented cast is fairly large at 24 and strong with acting experience:. T hey do an excellent job in this dramatic production. T he play is directed by David Smith-English, who has directed “T he Crucible,” along with another play during the spring term, will be the last that Smith- English will do with the college;., he is retiring after the school year. Smith-English has a great legacy with G CC. H e started working at the college in 1989, and has been the Director/Instructor o f' the Theater Arts Departm ent since 1994. “H e will certainly be missed,” said Chris W hitten, who handles the theater departm ents set and m o r e t h a n S O p la y s w it h litfttin q design a m o n g his m a n y Tege“"“ “ enough to be m y father, b u t I wish he was ... he’s glad that he is not,” said W hitten With a sparkle o f jest in his eye. “T he Crucible” runs through M arch 11 w ith shows Thursday, Friday and Saturday at? 7 :3 0 p.m ., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the Osterm an Theater located i n t h e Niemeyer Center. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for stu dents an d seniors. Tickets can also be purchased online at www. T heateiCCC .org. racultyauties. “David is not old Transforming Seuss’ ‘The Lorax’ from book into 3D film “The Lorax” was orginallypublished i n 1971 by Dr. Seuss, is a wonderfully hand drawn tale o f the dangers o f industrialization an d corporate takeover By Katherine Sudyam Copy Editor How would you feel i f the world lost its sheen? I f there were no trees left to be green, i f the world was dark and gray? Ifthe sun didnt shine all day? In the world o f Dr. Seuss’, ‘T h e Lorax,” it’s been a long tune since foe townspeople had seen natural green. That is until the main char acter, known only as “you”, decides to find o u t what happened to make his sad little town so unequivocally depressing. I don’t know exactly what route the new theatrical release o f “The Lorax” will take the end of this Seussian story to, but I’m hop in g that some o f the bright colors I Saw in th e commercials vrill .be a part o f the climax. This book, originally published in ’/ I , takes an environmentalists protest and translates it into child friendly text. In fact the newest edi tion is notably printed on recycled paper, asj the logo on the cover dictates. T he gloom and doom story of the Once-Lers greed tells of him causing a catastrophic chain of events. The happy town thick with unencumbered odd animals of the typical Seuss style is altered into such a dismal place that it’s nearly unidentifiable. T he Once-Ler’s story begins and ends with the chopping o f aTrufiula Tree, a beautiful tree that looks sort “The Lorax in 3 D ,” from the director o f the acclaimed 2010 animated film “Dispicable Me, ”was released in theaters on March 2 By Isaac Soper Arts & Culture Editor ii fir s t books to be originally illustrated in color. o f like palm with a brightly col ored tuft. T he Once-Ler, a character synonymous with hum an greed, decides to cut down these trees to make a thneed, something he thinks everyone needs. As soon as he is finished making his first thneed the Lorax appears, a n u g ly short ani malistic creature that does not agree with the Once-Lers Thneeds. T he Lorax speaks for the trees and the animals in the commu nity. O ne by one he sends them away, he doesn’t want to see them starving and coughing all day. Each group o f happy animals turns into melancholy versions o f their past selves as they leave their home with an uncertain destiny. Even foe Humming-Fish walk away on their fins. As the last Truffula Tree is chopped down the town turns completely gray, except for a cer tain spot in foe sky where the Lorax,js ‘lifted away,’ which is soon covered up with smog. The Once-Ler is left all alone, with nothing but a pile o f stones that the Lorax left him, saying “UNLESS.” T he story never goes into when humans began to inhabit this sad little place, or why they would want to live there. In foe end foe Once-Ler pushes off his guilt onto you,’ the nosy main character. ’ He is Ifft with the very last Truffula Tree seed, a very great responsibility indeed ‘Grow a fin est,’ the Once-Ler did say Making certain that f i r his crimes the child willpay.Isrit that, after all why the Lorax left the message “UNLESS” where he was lifted away? Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. ” Dr. Seuss "The Lorax" “T he Lorax” is a revamp o f the classic Dr. Seuss tale o f foe same tide. T he story has seen multiple incarnations, first the book, published in 1971 and the latest being the new filrri, which came out to theaters last Friday. . Directed by Chris Renaud, the acclaimed anim ated film m aker behind “Despicable Me,” his new film is entertaining, dramatic and informative. It fea tures m any musical num bers as well. As a new take on the classic, the film adopts an evil corpo ration that is behind keeping foe surreal, dystopian city o f Thneed-Ville foe way that it is. T h e company, nam ed O ’Hare’s, makes its m oney o ff o f selling purified air to foe masses, in plas tic botde form, no less. O n foe outside o f foe city’s walls, a desolate landscape is found. There isnt a Truffula Tree in sig h t,. foe animals have left f o e area and foe air has become sour. W ithin Thneed-Ville, trees have beeri replaced by mechanical decorations that resemble trees, which have light bulbs instead o f foliage, foe latest model doubling as a disco machine. T h e majority o f foe denizens in foe futuristic town like it foe way it is and have been convinced that trees are vile, dirty things. P roduced by Universal Pictures, “T h e Lorax” is a -3D computer-anim ated film, unlike its two predecessors, though it is available to yiew in 2 D theaters. “T he Lorax” is w orth seeing in 3D , especially if you are a fan gfi Dr. Seuss or com puter-anim ated films. T h e only downside to foe film is that it seems to w m e to somewhat o f an abrupt ending. T h e film succeeds in reinforc ing ideas o f environmentalism to foe viewers while ranging from lighthearted to mildly dark, m uch like foe 2008 post-apocalyptic Pixar film “WALL-E.” T h e 3D is surprisingly effective, unlike recent film trends.
