The Clackamas print., November 12, 2014, Page 4, Image 4

THE C L A C K A M A S
P R IN T
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NOV. 12, 2014
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V O L . 4 8 IS S U E 5
‘ Photo by Nick Hadley
For those who thrive on action, there’s also a fight scene involving Whittens character. She picked this
as her favorite scene, adding that it’s “fun for the audience and really fun for us, without hopefully any­
body getting hurt. I have split open my knee a couple times, now (laughs).”
Top fro m left: 1.) Jennifer W hitten as Jean, Beth Dodge as Hermia, Stacy Gianopoulus as Mrs. Gottlieb, and Clay­
ton H iatt às Dwight relish gifts fro m the dearly departed. 2.) Sam Levi as Gordon and Jennifer W hitten watch thè
“Cell Phone Ballet”. 3.) Jennifer W hitten talking on the “Dead M arisCellPhone”. 4.) Allison Andresen as Other
Photo by Nick Hadley
Jim Eikrem, artistic director and theater instructor, spoke about the lengthy process of putting togeth­
or some students, the idea of attending a school play might evoke memories of the stuffy er this production. Eikrem’s acting vision had to |neld with the visions of Chris Whitten ( lig h tin g and
period dramas or Shakespeare plays they slept through in high school. But this term’s
-Scenic director) and Alva Bradford (costume de­
mainstage production is refreshingly different: “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” by contempo­
signer).
rary playwright Sarah Ruhl, is a modern manifesto on how technology has changed our
lives. It combines aspects of comedy and fantasy, as well as themes of mortality.
“You have all of these minds working together to
create this production, and it all comes together
Sam Levi, Artist in Residence in the theater department and male lead in the play, gave
■in a very, very satisfying and often moving and
a summary of “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”
thought provoking way,” said Eikrem.
“It’s a trippy play,” said Levi. “It begins with a woman in a café trying to do some work, and this guy’s
cell phone keeps ringing and ringing and ringing. And she finally says, ‘Excuse me, I’m trying to work’
and it turns out that the guy is dead. She steals his cell phone and he’s getting all these text messages
and all these calls and she feels like he keeps on living through his phone.”
Levi plays Gordon, the dead man. He compared Gordon to a sleazy car salesman. “He’s a horriblé, hor­
rible, self-centered, cheating-on-his-wife, sort-of-taking-advantage-Of-people human being,” Levi said.
In contrast to Gordon is Jean, the female lead, portrayed by Jennifer Whitten. Whitten said that Jean
is described as “nondescript and mousy and like she doesn’t want to takeup a lot of space ... she wants
to make everybody happy.”
Clayton Hiatt, who plays Dwight - a nerdy loser and Jean’s love interest - discussed how recognizable
the characters are. “Almost every character we see in this play, we kind of have in our own lives and this
really mirrors that,” said Hiatt.
"... we're more
connected with 1
the world than I
we've ever been 1
- in some ways, 1
that makes you I
even less
J
connected."
The commentary on technology makes the play
relevant to students.
“It will make you think about how even though
we are connected now, today, in 2014, we’re more
connected with the world than we’ve ever been. In
some ways, that makes you even less connected,”
Levi said.
“Dead Mans Cell Phone” runs from Nov. 13 21.
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.,
Sundays at 2:30 p.m. $8 student tickets can be pur­
chased at www.clackamas.edu/theatre. There is a
“pay what you can” matinée oh Friday, Nov. 21 at
10 a.m. Contains adult language and themes.
Photo by Nick Hadley