Theater students present ‘On the Verge’
Theater students will present their performance of “On the Verge” on Thursday, Nov. 15 through Saturday, Nov.17 at 8 p.m. and on Sunday, Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. in Russell Auditorium.
“I love this play because it’s theatrical, because it is language intensive, funny and charming,” said Beate Czogalla, Assistant Professor of Design in Theatre. “I have done the play several times before, and I still love it and discover new things about it. In my job, this is the highest praise I can give to any play.”
According to Dr. Walter Bilderback, Director of Theater at Georgia College & State University and of this play, “On the Verge” follows the journey of three Victorian “lady travelers” who leave their homeland in 1888 to explore Terra Incognita, which literally means an unknown
country.
“Their adventures takes, them over mountains, through jungles and swamps and across gaping ravines and treacherous ice fields, encountering an array of bizarre characters, all played by actor James Davey,” said Bilderback. “As they continue intrepidly on their journey, they discover they are traveling further than they even intended and discovered things about themselves they never suspected.”
According to Bilderback, the play’s structure is unusual because it focuses on exploring language and popular culture rather than just telling a tale.
“This is a very popular device among a prolific group of writers whom critic Marc Robinson has termed ‘the other American drama,’ including playwright Tennessee Williams. These are writers, including Eric Overmyer (author of “On the Verge”), Mac Wellman, Len Jenkin, Suzan-Lori Parks and others, whose work revels poetic language and the use of the stage as a place of imagination, rather than, as one character in the play puts it, degenerating ‘into imitations of anthropological kinship studies.’ In our program, we are including a quote paraphrased by Overmyer and giving a hint to the nations: ‘The imagination is on the verge of recovering its rights,’” said Bilderback. “The audience should come expecting to have its vocabulary improved, by characters who relish using phrases such as ‘a cacophonous echolalia’ or explaining the proper way of dealing with ‘anthropophagi’ (cannibals) or ‘mighty Silurians’ (one character’s pet name for crocodiles).”
Senior Phoenix Powers, junior Mandy Butler and freshman Jennifer Ferrell will play the lady travelers.
“I cast them because they were the best students who auditioned and clicked the best as an ensemble and because their roles are a good stretch for Ms. Powers and Butler, who normally portray ing?nues of the sort Ms. Ferrell is portraying,” said Bilderback.
Junior actor James Davey will play the seven other characters, which include a German-speaking cannibal, a yeti, and Mr. Coffee.
“Davey is one of the theater program’s strongest actors who did the best job of individualizing his varied characters. I should add that all four actors had to beat out extremely strong competition to win their roles,” said Bilderback.
The General Admission for this show is $10, $6 for senior citizens, other students and Georgia College & State University faculty and staff. Admission for students is $2 with a valid ID. If you have any questions, please contact the Music and Theater Department at 445-4226.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Nov 9 2001. Filed under Features.
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