Humanity gets by - by `The Skin of Our Teeth'.

Byline: Fred Crafts The Register-Guard

There is nothing new under the sun. Life imitates art. Art imitates life. Around and around it goes. We survive, asserts American playwright Thornton Wilder, by the skin of our teeth.

So it goes in Wilder's aptly title Pulitzer Prize-winning theater classic - a play Lord Leebrick Theatre Managing Artistic Director Craig Willis adores.

` `Living is a struggle,' Wilder says. Every great and important thing that is worth fighting for is constantly riding that razor's edge of danger of falling into extinction,' Willis says. "We fight a lot of battles, both on the personal level and on the national and international level, that are sometimes not worthy of the energy we put into them.

OPENING THIS WEEK

"We must constantly be vigilant - in humorous ways, sometimes - to keep our eye on what is important and what's worth fighting for."

Wilder's position emerges from the epic sprawl of the playful "The Skin of Our Teeth," a nonrealistic play that drew a mixed response when it opened in New York in 1943 but has been performed countless times since.

This the story of Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, their children Henry and Gladys, and their maid Sabina.

While they are a typical American family living in a present-day New Jersey suburb, they are also Adam, Eve, Lilith and Cain.

Their's is not an easy life. But they somehow survive the Ice Age, the Flood and War, marking milestones along the way.

For instance, Mr. Antrobus invents the wheel and brewing beer. Come hell or high water, he is dedicated to saving the works of William Shakespeare.

But to Mrs. Antrobus, who invents the hem, the apron and "frying in oil," the Bard would be just firewood if burning his books would keep her children warm, safe and healthy.

The kids are, well, kids. Henry is trying to memorize the multiplication tables and learn how to use a slingshot. Gladys loves her father and fidgets. And then there's the saucy maid, Sabina, who will stoop to anything to escape the kitchen and go to the movies.

The goofiness becomes even more mind-bending when the actors directly address the audience, balk at performing scenes they dislike and fight with the Stage Manager while the set collapses behind them.

Wilder called the play "the most ambitious project I have ever approached." Willis agrees with that.

"I've always found this play to be fun in its theatricality," Willis says. "It's very complex in how it's set up. You have these levels going on of actors playing actors playing characters. Sometimes the character suddenly stops, and it's the actor talking to you, and sometimes it's an actor playing an actor talking to you.

`These are conventions we see in other plays, `Our Town' probably being the closest. But it's much like (Bertolt) Brecht and other avant garde playwrights of the 1940s who were messing around with convention to draw the audiences attention to the fact that, hey, you're in a theater, and this isn't real. But this play pokes fun at this."

Working their way through some 5,000 years of history are Ken Hof (as Antrobus), Ariel Pearlson (Mrs. Antrobus), Johnny Ormsbee (Henry), Teresa Koberstein (Gladys) and Victoria Blake (Sabina).

The production team includes Mark Huisenga, scenic design; Rachel Kinsman Steck, lighting design; Anna Lawrence, costume design; Christian Cherry, sound design; and Lauren Luksic, stage manager.

Wilder seemed to have a lot on his mind as he was writing this play in the midst of World War II, Willis says.

"It's Wilder's recognition that there were many things worth fighting for in that war," he says. "And, at the same time, it's a call to recognize that we must choose our battles wisely.

"It's also Wilder's belief that we've been very fortunate to have held onto the great philosophies and that somehow they get passed down to us through our writings and perhaps through a collective unconscious that sustains man and allows us to overcome even the obstacles that we put in front of ourselves."

As a result, Willis says "The Skin of Our Teeth" will resonate deeply with today's audiences.

"It's easy to take the play and listen to it and laugh about the fact that here we are, 60 years after the play was written, and we have just come through some pretty amazing experiences, between 9/11 and now yet another war in the Middle East and the war on terror that is being advanced at least by the administration, and we're facing issues like global warming and family values on all levels, whether it's abortion or gay rights," he says.

"We have to trust that we will survive these issues. It's rather reassuring that similar calamities have occurred in the past, and we've always managed to survive them, often only by the skin of our teeth. Still, we manage to survive."

Fred Crafts can be reached at 338-2575 or [e-mail].

PLAY PREVIEW

The Skin of Our Teeth

What: The future of mankind is contemplated in Thornton Wilder's comedy, directed

by Craig Willis

When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and April 1-3 and 8-10 and 15-17; and 2 p.m. April 4 and 11

Where: Lord Leebrick Theatre, 540 Charnelton St.

How much: $8 to $16, at the theater box office (465-1506)

CAPTION(S):

Appearing in Lord Leebrick's staging of "The Skin of Our Teeth" are (from left): Johnny Ormsbee, Victoria Blake, Ken Hof, Ariel Pearlson and Teresa Koberstein. "Every great and important thing that is worth fighting for is constantly riding that razor's edge of danger of falling into extinction." - CRAIG WILLIS, LORD LEEBRICK THEATRE MANAGING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND DIRECTOR OF ``THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH''