Get a taste of three lesser-known plays.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard THEATER PREVIEW Readings in Rep What: Readings - that means the actors stand up and read their lines from scripts, without costumes or scenery - of three plays by Willamette Repertory Theatre repertory theatre Production of several different plays in a single season by a resident acting company. The plays chosen may be classic works by famous dramatists or new works by emerging playwrights, and the companies that perform them often serve as a training ground for Lee Blessing's "A Body of Water," 8 p.m. Friday T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party," 8 p.m. Saturday Portland playwright Donald Olson's "Oregon Ghosts," 2 p.m. Sunday Where: Hult Center's Studio One, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street Admission: $10 each reading, through the Hult box office, 682-5000 Willamette Repertory Theatre is getting back to basics this week when it stages its final production of the season, "Readings in Rep." "There are four essentials," said the Rep's artistic director, Kirk Boyd. "A platform. A script. An actor. And an audience. And that's what we've got." What this means for the audience is that, for not very much money, you can sit and listen to actors do polished, though not highly produced, readings of three plays, one each on Friday and Saturday night and one on Sunday afternoon. The three were chosen because they're interesting works not likely to get a full production here in Eugene, Boyd said. And this is definitely not full theatrical production Noun 1. theatrical production - the production of a drama on the stage staging production - a presentation for the stage or screen or radio or television; "have you seen the new production of Hamlet?" . There are no costumes, no props, no sets and no moving around the stage - just actors standing up at music stands, reading the parts. The audience is free to move around - the show is in Studio One, not in a theater - and get drinks at the bar during the readings. Friday night's fare is a new play, "A Body of Water," by Lee Blessing Lee Blessing (born October 4 1949) is an American playwright. His best-known play is A Walk in the Woods, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation. . In it, a couple wake up one morning in a strange house surrounded by water. Into this odd scene comes a young woman, who may be their daughter. The play explores issues of memory and loss. Blessing, the author of "Going to St. Ives" and "A Walk in the Woods," is a favorite of Boyd's, who will direct the reading. "He is a playwright I just adore a·dore v. a·dored, a·dor·ing, a·dores v.tr. 1. To worship as God or a god. 2. To regard with deep, often rapturous love. See Synonyms at revere1. 3. ," Boyd said. "At one point he told me I had staged more of his work than anybody but his wife." "A Body of Water" is structured a bit unconventionally, Boyd said. "I am a purist pur·ist n. One who practices or urges strict correctness, especially in the use of words. pu·ris  tic adj. ," Boyd said. "And so I am not sure
this is a play. I think a play is about one person, and that person goes
through an essential change. In the structure of this play, whether that
actually happens or not is arguable ar·gu·a·ble adj. 1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved. 2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. . It may be that the audience goes through the essential change." The cast includes Suzanne Bunker as Avis, Greg Foote as Moss and Jenny Nissel as Wren wren, small, plump perching songbird of the family Troglodytidae. There are about 60 wren species, and all except one are restricted to the New World. The plumage is usually brown or reddish above and white, gray, or buff, often streaked, below. . On Saturday, the Rep will do T.S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party," directed by Joseph Gilg. Written in 1949, the play tells the story of the reluctant host of a cocktail party held in his London flat. As the play unfolds we learn, from a mysterious man who seems to know too much about the host's life, that his wife is about to leave him. He must face qualities in himself and his friends in order to unravel the mystery. The cast includes Steve Wehmeier as Edward Chamberlayne, Kim Donahey as Mrs. Shuttlethwaite, Mary Unruh as Celia Coplestone, Richard Leebrick as Alexander MacColgie Gibbs, Carlo Brigola as Peter Quilpe, Achilles Massahos as the Unidentified Guest, Christianne Hauber as Lavinia Chamberlayne and Emily Gilbert as the Nurse/Secretary and the Caterer. On Sunday afternoon, the company will read "Oregon Ghosts," by Portland playwright Donald Olson. The play tells three stories based on Oregon legends, from the haunted Heceta Head Heceta Head is a headland that stands at a 1,000 ft. above the Pacific Ocean in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The Heceta Head Light is located on its south side. Heceta Head is named after the Portuguese explorer under Spanish Commission, Bruno de Heceta, who explored the lighthouse to the Whitehorse Bar in Portland and a haunted hotel in Eastern Oregon Eastern Oregon is a geographical term that is generally taken to mean the area of the state of Oregon east of the Cascade Range, save the region around The Dalles and sometimes Klamath County. The area around Bend is considered to be Central Oregon rather than Eastern Oregon. . Directed by Chris Pinto pinto Spotted horse, also called paint, piebald, skewbald, and other terms to describe variations in colour and markings. The American Indian ponies of the western U.S. were often pintos. Most pure-breed associations refuse to register horses with pinto colouring. , the cast will include Jonas Lerman Jonas Lerman (born 1981) is an American poet, writer, and singer-songwriter from Oregon. His work appears or is forthcoming in a number of American literary journals, including Indiana Review, Crazyhorse, Mid-American Review, Permafrost, , Jenny Nissel, Patrick Torelle, Jennifer Taggart and Fred Crafts. Willamette Rep first did formal readings as a part of its season last year. "The idea first emerged as a two-prong deal," Boyd said. "It's a low-risk way for us to extend the season, so we stay in front of people's eyes for a little bit longer. "And, there are a lot of really good plays out there. The audience in Eugene doesn't get to experience a lot of them. ``There are plays that are really hot in the greater theater world that don't get here, and this is a way to expose Eugene to underheard voices. I like to find those American voices that are strong and don't get a lot of play." CAPTION(S): Steve Wehmeier (left), Kim Donahey and Carlo Brigola rehearse re·hearse v. re·hearsed, re·hears·ing, re·hears·es v.tr. 1. a. To practice (a part in a play, for example) in preparation for a public performance. b. for their reading of T.S. Eliot's ``The Cocktail Party.'' |
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