MARCH 31, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A5
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McNary thespian to compete at state
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
McNary senior Annie Pur-
key will be busy at the Or-
egon Thespians State Festival
on April 6-7 in Salem.
Along with performing
in Defying Gravity, which was
selected as one of two high
school plays in the state to be
showcased at the festival, Pur-
key will also compete in solo
acting after fi nishing in the
top 10 percent of 77 entries at
regionals in February.
Actors perform two con-
trasting monologues totaling
three minutes in front of a
group of judges. When pick-
ing her pieces, Purkey chose
two male characters—Rosen-
crantz in Rosencrantz and Guil-
denstern Are Dead and Shylock
in The Merchant of Venice.
“A lot of times when
you’re looking for mono-
logues, it’s really diffi cult to
fi nd good, strong, powerful
female monologues,” Purkey
said. “I didn’t want to do a
monologue, ‘Oh my boy-
friend cheated on me and
la-dee-da.’ I wanted a strong
character because women can
be strong, too. I didn’t think it
was that important for those
male roles to be played par-
ticularly by males. I think that
it was suitable for me to do it,
too.”
Rosencrantz gave Purkey
the opportunity to practice
a British accent, which she
learned in an advanced acting
class at McNary.
“I wanted to bring it back
because I enjoyed the feed-
back that I got from it then,”
Purkey said. “I like the ac-
cents. They’re fun and then
it helps to make that contrast
between the two.”
The Merchant of Venice, in
which she plays a persecuted
Jew, allows Purkey to tackle a
more serious subject.
“I chose that one because it
is so relevant to today,” Purkey
said. “I wanted to do some-
thing important. A lot of it
has to do with racism and it’s
something that’s a huge topic
in today’s society.
“I’m not a person of color
but as a woman there have
been moments where I’ve
been looked down upon in
sexist ways. I know a little bit
of how that feels to be judged
and mistreated just because of
something you can’t control.
It spoke to me and I thought
that it had an important mes-
sage and I enjoyed being that
character, who is just fed up
with all of the stuff that hap-
pened to him.”
The top 10 percent at state
will then perform in the El-
sinore Theatre but Purkey
won’t get the opportunity
since she’s also in Defying
Gravity and students aren’t al-
lowed to be on the stage more
than once.
“It’s just another chance
for me perform and get feed-
back from the judges,” Purkey
said of the competition.
Bringing back Defying
Gravity, which the McNary
theatre department performed
back at the beginning of No-
vember, has been surreal.
“Whenever shows close,
we do a very staged speech
after we strike everything and
then we have the bare stage to
look at and it’s like the trans-
forming nature of theatre so I
always come to terms that I’m
going to put this character to
rest and do something new
now,” Purkey said.
“It’s so weird to get to
do it again. I’ve never had
that opportunity. But it’s fun.
Once we started doing it (re-
hearsing), there were natural
rhythms to it and things that
KEIZERTIMES/Delek Wiley
McNaly seniol Annie Pulkey, light, with Ashton Thomas and Ryvel Nakayoshi act out a scene flom Defying Glavity, which the
theatle depaltment will showcase at the Olegon Thespians State Festival on Aplil 7 in Salem.
we rediscovered right on the
spot and it came naturally.”
Staying busy isn’t anything
new for Purkey, who played
Grandma in The Addams Fam-
ily musical in January and
Lenny in Crimes of the Heart
earlier this month. She also
Pucker up!
won fi rst place in the two-
dimensional category at the
annual Keizer Art Associa-
tion show in February for her
drawing of former President
Abraham Lincoln.
“It’s been crazy,” Purkey
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said. “I’ve just been trying
to be involved in as much as
I can in high school while I
can. It was my last semester. I
think I’m pretty fulfi lled.”
While Purkey isn’t sure
she’ll do any theatre after high
school, she is appreciative of
what it has taught her.
“I think it’s good skills to
have anyway, a lot of things,
people watching and empa-
thy, which has been great and
made me who I am,” she said.
KHF scholarship
deadline April 7
The deadline to submit ap-
plications for Keizer Heritage
Center’s Pearl Langeland Me-
morial Scholarship is Friday,
April 7.
The scholarship is awarded
to a McNary High School
graduating senior who has re-
sided in Keizer for at least fi ve
years. Students must attend
a four or two-year college or
vocational school within one
year of award selection. The
selection is based on academic
performance, school and com-
munity activities and mon-
etary need.
The $1,000 Pearl Lange-
land Memorial Scholarship is
open to any graduating high
school senior. More informa-
tion, and scholarship applica-
tions, are available at www.
keizerheritage.org.
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