Wednesday, November 5, 2003
|
Wednesday, November 5, 2003 |
|
It’s ‘All in the Timing’ Starr’s Mill drama students make funny with play By MICHAEL
BOYLAN One doesn’t typically hear the phrases “sophisticated comedy” and “high school students” together very often, but they will this weekend when Starr’s Mill presents David Ives’ “All in the Timing” at the McIntosh Black Box Theatre on Wedneday and Thursday, Nov. 5 and 6. “All in the Timing” features six vignettes. While each vignette stands on it’s own, there is an underlying theme of different types of timing in each story. For instance, “Philip Glass Buys a Loaf of Bread,’ deals with musical timing and “Variations on the Death of Trotsky” deals with life on a time line. The other similarity is that each piece is sharply written and cleverly delivered by the cast of 17 advanced drama students from Starr’s Mill. “The kids love it,” said Director David Spearman. “They are having a great time with it.” The process for the students began with research because much of the humor in the play is, well, sophisticated. Cast members in the Trotsky piece needed to know who Trotsky was and how he died to appreciate the humor, just as the cat of the Philip Glass piece needed to listen to Glass’ work to understand why the piece was not only accurate but also very clever and funny. While Spearman feels that the audience will need to be well-read to get all of the humor, he also states that every form of comedy is well represented in the play. Because there are six pieces and each cast member appears in only one vignette, they each got to dig deep into their roles and gain a better understanding of comedic acting. Also, by using McIntosh’s theater space, the audience won’t lose as much of the comedy as they would if the show were performed in a larger theater. Starr’s Mill took the play to the regional one act competition over the weekend and placed second. The show will be performed at 7 p.m. and admission is $5. |
