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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2004)
BRAVO! WINTER/SPRING 2004 Barbara Embree & Elena Stylosin, Lord Leebrick’s Far Away. A S H L A N D ' S I N N & S PA AT L ITHIA S PRINGS Romance Package Dramatic Nights AREA THEATERS OFFER THOUGHT-PROVOKING ENTERTAINMENT. just $299 per couple ◆ 3 Days and 2 nights Lodging in a Garden Room ◆ Gourmet Hot Breakfasts each morning. Wine & Hors de oeuvres each afternoon. ◆ A Dinner for 2 at Verdant or another one of Ashland's Finest Restaurants. ◆ A 1 hour soak & massage package for 2, or an allowance toward spa treatments of your choice. BY ARIA SELIGMANN he ebbing of winter’s darkest days becomes apparent as the new the- ater season lights up playhouses around town. Like rich, thick stews that warm to the bone, several companies offer compelling dramas that audience members can sink their teeth into. Only a few are noted here, but please check EW weekly for updates and reviews. Eugene is truly blessed to have so many theater companies, each with its own niche and offerings. Please support them. An exciting note sounds as Willamette Repertory Theatre offers a Eugene O’Neill work that personifies Artistic Director Kirk Boyd’s dream of offering high quality American works. A Moon for the Misgotten is O’Neill’s final, comic-tragic play, written in 1943, not long after Long Day’s Journey Into Night, as a eulogy to his brother James. “O’Neill had just finished Long Day’s Journey into Night and felt he hadn’t given Jamie just due in how much he loved his mother,” says Boyd. O’Neill created a meaty woman’s role in the character of Josie, and he also called the work The Moon Bore Twins because of Josie’s story. Set in early September 1923, the plot revolves around Josie Hogan, a big, strong farm girl — O’Neill called for her to be about 5’11” and 180 lbs. He created her as a spitfire Irish woman with an Irish pig- farmer father who’s a shrewd character. But T it’s the relationship between Josie and James Tyrone, their alcoholic landlord, that is the center of the story. In this production, Tony DeBruno (last seen in WRT’s Art) is James Tyrone Jr., Dennis Robertson is the contentious Phil Hogan, Michelle Morain is Josie, and Jeff Pierce doubles as Mike Hogan and T. Stedman Harder. Although Morain’s Josie is not the over- powering Earth Goddess O’Neill described, Boyd interprets O’Neill’s size requirements to mean Josie should be a woman of char- acter — not an ingenue. Boyd calls the lyricism of O’Neill’s writing “pure American poetry.” But it’s not all wine and roses. Although the play begins on a light note and has a healthy dose of comedy, it still hangs heavy in the end. “The agony of this play is in those moments where Josie and James come so close to connecting,” he says. “If they could just talk to each other and just do it, but they’re both so wounded they can’t.” In this play where nothing is as it seems, where the romanticism of a moon hangs over the action, two souls fail to love. Therein lies the tragedy. The lesson is, “Be brave,” says Boyd. As in the play, there is an element of pathos within the mounting of this produc- tion, but a note of magic resides in it as well. Before he founded WRT, when he was with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Upgrade to a suite or cottage and soak in a 2 person, mineral-spring tub in the privacy of your room. Many available with fireplaces. JUST 3 HOURS SOUTH OF EUGENE Special good thru 1/1/04. Subject to availabilty. Call 1-800-482-7128 • www.ashlandinn.com music, dance & theatre arts SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION Fridays & Saturdays, February 6-21, 8:00pm Sunday, February 15, 2:00pm MUSIC ENSEMBLE CONCERTS March 4-12 THE WORKS DANCE CONCERT April 22-24, 7:30pm FACULTY JAZZ CONCERT April 29, 7:30pm VOCAL JAZZ CONCERT May 11 & 13, 7:00pm SPRING DANCE CONCERT May 20-22, 8:00pm MUSIC ENSEMBLE CONCERTS May 23-June 4 Request a brochure! 463-5202 JANUARY 8, 2004 21
