MORGANTOWN – As Jerry McGonigle descended the stairs toward the rehearsal studio inside the Canady Creative Arts Center, a mental memory hit him.
“I just saw the show,” said McGonigle, artistic director of the West Virginia Public Theater. “It’s tremendously hysterical. But it’s so physical. I don’t know how many shares there are; you have to exhaust them. “It’s just constant madness.”
The madness arose from a rehearsal of Clue, the upcoming production at the West Virginia Public Theatre. The play based on the movie based on Hasbro’s board game will be presented June 6-16 at the Canady Creative Arts Center on West Virginia University’s Evansdale campus. With the world on fire, McGonigle thought it was important to give the public a place to escape with a lighter meal.
Tickets can be purchased online at wvucca.universitytickets.com or by calling 304-293-TKTS. Prices range from $15 to $30 for single tickets, seniors, children or groups of more than 10 people.
Clue is a farce and will be the most physical production WVPT has ever put on, McGonigle said. While the play provides some direction of movement, it is up to the actors to determine how the play will actually be performed on stage. For this production, director Robin Parrish decided to use movement and action to really highlight the ridiculous elements of the play.
She sits cross-legged on the floor of the rehearsal studio, facing the cast who are seated in the audience section. Together, they work through the choreography.
“I bribe, I bribe them,” Parrish said, joking about how he gets the cast to work together. “No, it’s really interesting. One of the most interesting things I think about being a manager is learning to quickly figure out how people work. Each one has a different way of working. Even if everyone studied in the same place and in the same system, they would end up working completely differently. Everyone has their own ways of expressing frustration or joy. Directing is a real lesson in psychology.”
Parrish sets himself apart from directors who prefer to figure out for themselves the directing and acting of whatever they’re working on. For her, learning how the cast works and what kind of energy they have is how she decides what style of collaboration she will use to produce the play.
The form of the play is what emerges from the energy contributed by the actors.
“I thought, ‘I’m so tired,’ and I mentally complained, and then I thought, ‘Well, I came up with that,’” said Chris Daftsios, one of the actors. “Running and jumping everywhere. I have always been a very physical actor. Using everything, this entire instrument that we call the body.”
Another factor that contributed to the form this particular production of Clue took was the setting itself. Lacking the convenience of a much larger Broadway stage, the cast and crew took advantage of the fact that the audience will surround the stage on three sides to sell the performance. The work requires between 9 and 10 locations. To create the illusion of a change of scenery, the cast uses frenetic choreography to give the impression of movement. However, one extra element will really put the icing on the cake. The scenic department used a turntable to form a rotating wall, which will take the cast to each new location. Maguire Glass, a WVU student, designed the set.
“I think there are 32 scene changes and it takes place in nine different locations,” Maguire said. “The challenge was definitely fitting all of that into this space. It was a fun challenge to take on because this is my first show. It’s a good learning opportunity to do that. Tammy (Honesty, WVPT Scenic Designer) was always focused on the physicality and how fast-paced everything would go. So it was fun to find all those little kinds of puns and references to connect them and focus on moving the story forward as fun and quickly as possible.”
Maguire said he built the set to give the audience the impression that they were opening a board game at a family game night. She was inspired by both the Tudor aesthetic of the 1985 film and the board games of the 1950s.
On their own, each element, from choreography to set design, is impressive, but when combined, Daftsios hopes the production captures the audience.
“The farce not only collaborates with each other, but also with the audience,” he said. “Having that kind of energy of presentation and at the same time that root of truth, draws the audience in in a way that…think of a play that is very subtle. Arthur Miller is great, he’s wonderful, you’re attracted to him but you look at him like you’re a fly on the wall. But with a farce, we really draw in the audience.”
Daftsios said their goal is to allow the public to disconnect from their electronic devices for a few hours and feed off the energy that comes from a communal experience.
“Laughing at us, panting or whatever feeds them, we feed them,” he said. “It really goes back to the Greeks in terms of having that kind of communal religious experience. Farce is wonderful at that.”
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