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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.