theater
BY ANNA GRACE
Rebecca Morus
and Kory Weimer
at last year’s
NXNW10! festival
North By Northwest Ten!
at Lord Leebrick
Imaginary space-alien sex was fi rst up on the boards opening night at the
third annual 10-Minute Play Festival, followed in swift succession by seven other
refl ections on the human condition. Nineteen actors, seven directors and two
swinging saxophones create a rambunctious evening of theater.
This, then, is North By Northwest Ten! With submissions coming from all over
the state, the eclectic line-up showcases the best short scripts Oregon has to offer.
Most of this year’s plays are pretty quirky, and all of them are creative in their
themes, asking the audience to refl ect on something new.
And I Feel Fine by Ari Chadwick-Saund is a great sketch about a few college kids
preparing to watch the sun swell up and swallow the earth by laying out beach
towels and making their way through a cooler of beer. Sarah Ruggles, Lacy Allen
and Caleb Palmer were hysterical, and their belching exceeded all expectations.
Many Eugeneans will get a kick out of Cathy Noah’s Glutton for Punishment in
which Wendy (Alisa McLaughlin) an earthy, new age do-gooder — fi nds herself in
hell as the devil (Bruce Lundy) ploughs through paper work. He’s doing his best to
awaken her to the fact that all her meditative mumbo jumbo means nothing; the
Catholics had it right all along.
The standout script of the evening was far and away Thirty-Seven Cents by Ciji
Guerin. A humble look into the lives of three men living on the streets, the piece
was powerfully played by Richard Leebrick, Paul Rhoden and Ralph Steadman.
Other plot lines include a revamped Mother Courage, cigarette lighter
negotiations in a gas mart, the soft line between student and school counselor, a
refl ection on what might happen if Brad and Angelina woke up to fi nd they were
not longer “Brad and Angelina,” and the possibility that settling down might be
the most unlikely and exciting sex scenario of them all.
North By Northwest Ten! is pieced together by a number of different hands.
There are seven directors tackling the eight different scripts. I came prepared to
enjoy fl ipping from one theme to the next with a surfeit of varying literary styles.
I found the variations in direction more diffi cult to roll with than I had anticipated.
It lent the evening the air of an amateur theatricals club, where everything is
really fun and fast paced, just so long as you don’t get too picky about the details.
The charm of North By Northwest Ten! is that if you enter with an open mind,
that mind will be fi lled up and refreshed by the varying viewpoints and ideas of
numerous writers. The variety and pace left me a bit discombobulated, but by the
end of the evening I felt as though I understood the world a little better. ew
Wicked Work
Good Witch, Bad Witch, awesome music, strong, positive female
relationships and a Tony or two? Yes, Wicked is a show with a lot of
expectations.
To fi gure out how those expectations are met, I dialed up cast member
David Nathan Perlow (playing Fiyero in the production of Wicked that’s
rolling into Eugene next week) to dish the dirt on performing with a touring
company.
“Wicked treats their cast so well,” were nearly the fi rst words out of his
mouth. With at least three weeks in each city and only eight shows a week,
Perlow says, “Touring with Wicked is as easy as touring can be.”
While I was glad to know the actors weren’t suffering, my main concern
was: Is the show going to be good? Touring companies often have the
reputation of B-grade actors mucking it out in the sticks, biding their time
before getting back to Broadway.
“There is a creative team that is responsible for upholding the original
choreography and direction. The Wicked Corporation,” Perlow adds, without
a hint of irony in his voice, “is constantly making sure every show meets the
highest standards. There is no disparity in skill between the actors you see
here, and those on stage in New York.”
When I asked if the show ever gets stale out on tour, Perlow compared his
work to that of a professional athlete. “The show is physically demanding,
but our stamina is up.” And, he noted, after their time in California the cast
and crew are excited to be in the
Northwest.
Perhaps the Emerald City
will turn out to be home
after all?
Wicked plays April 20
through May 1 at Hult
Center; info and tickets at
wickedthemusical.com
or
hultcenter.org — Anna Grace
North By Northwest Ten! runs April 1-10 at the Lord Leebrick Theatre.
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