Bravo!
E W ’ S G U I D E TO T H E P E R F O R M I N G A R T S
TIMELY AND
TIMELESS
Very Little Theatre tackles Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird
F
or half a century, Harper Lee’s novel To Kill A
Mockingbird has held an immovable place on the
American bookshelf by using humor and grace to
tackle one of our nation’s ugliest ongoing realities:
racism.
The Very Little Theatre has mounted a winning
production of this evergreen tale.
Christopher Sergel’s adaptation takes us to the fictional
world of Maycomb, Alabama, in 1935. Director Stanley
Coleman ably gathers townsfolk to chatter over the latest
gossip: Tom Robinson (Darius Bunce), an upstanding
husband and father, has been jailed, accused of atrocities
against the daughter of the biggest ne’er-do-well in town.
Witnessing the simmering tensions, young Scout Finch
SCOTT FRAZIER-MASKIELL (LEFT), HAZEL VAN
UMMERSEN, DONELLA ELIZABETH ALSTON, CODY
MASTERSON AND NOA ABLOW MEASELLE IN VLT’S
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
SCENES
(Noa Ablow-Measelle), her brother Jem (Cody Masterson)
and friend Dill (Hazel Van Ummersen) have their languid,
playful Saturday abruptly suspended.
Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, represents Tom,
imbuing every word he speaks, every gesture, with a self-
effacing heroism. Scott Frazier Maskiell brings a powerful,
restrained energy to the character, an iconic role if there
ever was one.
Larry K. Fried as Heck Tate is also a standout —
beleaguered, but with a heart of oak. Donella-Elizabeth
Alston, as the children’s terrorizing-but-beloved care
provider Calpurnia, offers a maternal glimmer in an
otherwise emotionally ascetic landscape. Likewise,
Hershell Norwood as the Reverend Sykes provides
constant vigilance, shepherding children and onlookers
through the painful trial in the second act.
And underscoring the adage that in theater “there are no
small parts, only small actors,” Bobbye Sorrels is simply
perfect as the cantankerous Mrs. Dubose.
Narrating the production, Rebecca Chamberlain, as a
grown-up Scout, floats in and around the action, gently
explaining background and intention.
Dialect coach Tricia Rodley has a tall order: To our
northern ears, a Southern accent might be a broad
descriptor, and any pass at it would suffice. But spend just
a bit of time time in the South, and one notes that accents
vary not only by state but also by county, even town. In
this production, some characters attempt a Southern
accent, some don’t. It’s understandable, but it may break
the spell.
Sarah Etherton’s set undergoes clever transformations,
from quiet neighborhood to courtroom. Sound design by
Stanley Coleman, Adrienne West and Molly Clevidence
consistently transports. Lighting design by James Aday
and Kari Welch evokes the mysteries of lightning bugs and
humid days. (The only issue is when the narrator stands
downstage right, she is consistently in the dark.) And hats
off to the costume team, lead by Nancy Boyett and Paula
Tendick, for outfitting the whole of Maycomb in period
detail.
To Kill A Mockingbird plays through Jan. 30 at the
Very Little Theatre. Tickets available at thevlt.com or by
calling the box office at 344-7751. — Rachael Carnes
ETHAN CRYSTAL
AND EVYNNE
HOLLENS IN
OCT’S THE LAST
FIVE YEARS
FROM A MARRIAGE
OCT keeps it fresh and challenging with The Last Five Years
A
subtle aesthetic is starting to emerge at Oregon
Contemporary Theatre, which for the past couple
of seasons has mounted a series of tight, powerful
works by playwrights (some with ties to Eugene
or the Northwest in general) who tackle the
prickly issues of what it means and how it feels to live in
this world right now.
Call the aesthetic postmodern-domestic, or perhaps
urban-erotic. Taking a cue from masters like Chekhov and
Tennessee Williams, these plays burrow into our deepest
intimacies, gathering their dramatic force not from grand
gestures but, rather, from the crackling connections of
close relationships fraught with love, loss, humor and
anxiety.
OCT’s latest production fits snugly into this
contemporary aesthetic while also pushing the envelope in
thrilling ways. Jason Robert Brown’s musical play, The
Last Five Years, tells the sad-happy story of Cathy
(Evynne Hollens) and Jamie (Ethan Crystal), who meet,
fall in love, get married and then fall apart. But there’s a
twist, and the twist is everything.
The play, directed by OCT artistic director Craig Willis,
is narrated inversely: Jamie, an aspiring novelist, starts his
story at the beginning of the romance, and Cathy, an
aspiring actress, begins the play at the end of the marriage.
Despite sharing the stage, the characters only interact
once, as they meet in the middle of their reversed timelines.
Hence, as Cathy and Jamie react to this and that
moment, we are given a kind of counterpoint, an echo that
moves back and forth across time. The thrill of one is
chilled by the heartbreak of the other. The effect is bracing,
as though fate is at once foretold and undone.
The musical pieces, written and composed by Brown and
accompanied by a live chamber orchestra, are fantastic, by
turns hilarious and haunting. The play is narrated almost
entirely in song, even more so than in classic musicals, and
both Hollens and Crystal carry the show — so much so that
the reverse-chronological-singing about a busted relationship
by two people who only meet once in real time comes across
as not only coherent but perfectly natural.
OCT’s The Last Five Years is an innovative piece of
theater executed with confidence and grace. It funnels the
propulsive drive and infectious rhythms of musical theater
into the tighter spaces of romantic drama, and the tension
gives off sparks.
The Last Five Years plays through Feb. 6 at Oregon
Contemporary Theatre; $15-$30, tickets at octheatre.org
or 465-1506. — Rick Levin
eugeneweekly.com • January 21, 2016
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