Page 8
Çortlanô LOberrlirr
September 17, 2014
IMIII
Misfits and Hidden Gifts
‘A Wrinkle in
Time’ invites
self-acceptance
and discovery
O pinionated
J udge
in .It ix .i
1) \RI 11 \ O k I I (. \
D arleen O rtega
I w ent to see the new production
o f "A W rinkle In T im e" at the O r
egon S hakespeare Festival m ostly
because I see all the O S F p ro d u c
tions. I vaguely rem em b ered that
the book on w hich it is based m eant
a lot to m e as a you n g person, but
recalled nothing about w hy. A s it
turned out, m y m u rk y reco llectio n -
- aided by som e sm art choices by
director and ad ap to r T racy Y oung,
the p roduction's talented d e sig n
ers, and a cast w ho clearly loves the
source m aterial -- all added up to an
unexpectedly p rofound experience
form e.
T he story, for the uninitiated and
the forgetful, involves an aw kw ard
by
Gerding Theater at the Armory
128 NW Eleventh Avenue
503.445.3700
ad o lescen t girl, M eg M urry, w ho is
a social m isfit an d unsuccessful stu
dent. H er b elo v ed father, a p h y si
cist w ho h ad been em ployed at som e
to p -secret g o v ern m en t project, has
been m issing fo r m o re than a year.
She and h er g enius fiv e-year-old
brother, C harles W allace, receiv e a
n ig h ttim e visit fro m a m ysterious
old w om an, M rs. W hatsit, w ho tells
th em and th eir m o th er that there are
su c h th in g s as " te s s e ra c ts ," o r
w rinkles in tim e and space that o ne
can travel through. T he follow ing
day the tw o ch ild ren and M eg's
s c h o o lm a te , C a lv in , e n d u p
"tesserin g "—traveling through such
w rinkles - to co m b at an evil B lack
T h in g that is th reaten in g the un i
verse, and h o ping to find M eg's
father.
It's a co m p lex story to d ep ict on
stage. T he w o rld o f the b o o k c o n
tains lots o f fanciful elem ents and
tw ists o f the rules o f tim e and space
that can be d ifficu lt to d escribe, let
alone stage. T hese are not so m uch
problem s fo r a book, w hose literary
life depends on the im agination o f
the reader, but bringing the story to
life on stage is full o f potential for
pcs.org
co m in ess and cam p.
B ut this can n ily -designed p ro
duction m anages to strike all the
rig h t notes. T he b o o k w as w ritten in
1962, and the set design in co rp o
rates lots o f signals o f 1960s A m erica,
w ith its relative innocence m ixed
w ith paranoia. T he design has a sort
o f h andm ade feel w hich suits that
tim e and also the book's dem and on
im agination; it also captures the
sense o f a b o o k that w as once b e
loved by now o ld er adults w ho are
sharing it w ith p resen t-day children
and grandchildren. A ll the child
characters are play ed (quite effec
tively) by adults, but o ne ch ild actor
appears often on stage, reading or
w orking on h er ow n science ex p eri
m ents. H er p resen ce on stage c ap
tures a sense o f a m ixture o f g en era
tio n s w h o h a v e re sp o n d ed p ro
foundly to this m aterial.
W hen done w ell, a m inim alist
approach to special effects can serve
to bring the pro fu n d ities o f a story
into bold relief. S om ehow the actors
seem m ore vulnerable, aw akening
audiences to the p o ignancy o f the
story. A nd so it is here; the in n o
cen ce o f M eg and C harles W allace
and C alvin co n v in ces, underlined
by various m em bers o f the cast fre
quently reciting lines from the be
lo v ed book. T he p roduction m oves
b etw een various levels o f realism
and stagecraft in a m anner that p a r
allels the tim e-travel o f the story,
in v itin g th e a u d ie n c e to tra v e l
through w orlds o f im agination and
m eaning.
B est o f all, b ecau se I h ad not
recalled m uch beyond that this p a r
ticu lar b o o k had m eant m uch to m e
as a child, the p roduction set m e on
a search fo r w hat had appealed to
m e then. T he obvious answ er — and
the one reach ed fo r by so m any
critics — is that the story m akes a
hero o f an aw k w ard adolescent, and
sets h er on a voyage o f self-accep
tance and discovery o f her hidden
gifts. T hat is, o f course, true. I in-
continued
on page 14
The Portland Observer is a Proud Member of:
NK AMIRI M;FER>»T4R5
T im
sr asun si prom ue) smMsoa.«
Sí M a r y
UM PQUA
I* • A • N
B oyle
a t iiir iH u n ii
lui
THE PAUL G ALLEN
TAM II V T o i INDA TOM
R ACC
-K
t u r i m i c ita n ti
▲ ▼▼
SHOW SPONSORS
dll ©
TM« p r o fit « wppoftwd in part by « grant
If«xn fh*
A iti Commi» » mx > and ih*
Mattonai f ndowrn«nt for th* Art*.
MW Natural*
AFRICAN-AMERICAN
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE