IWU Senior Soiree and Showcase Opens Doors for Theatre Artists

Today's the day the Illinois Wesleyan senior theater majors take their act on the road. IWU's designers and performers will spotlight their work tonight at the 2013 Senior Soiree and Showcase in Chicago, this year at Theater Wit in Chicago. That involves the talents of some 16 actors, singers and dancers, as well as eight graduating seniors who fall on the design and tech side of the theatrical equation.

Last year, director Scott Susong and his crew performed their dress rehearsal at a local church before the Chicago trip, but this time, they used the E. Melba Kirkpatrick Lab Theatre on the IWU campus before making the trek. To approximate the Theater Wit setting they'll see tonight, director Scott Susong turned the Kirkpatrick Theatre into a long, narrow space, with seating straight back from the playing area. That made for some tough sightlines, but the SRO crowd assembled to watch this showcase for their senior friends didn't seem to mind.

The show opened with two pop numbers -- Sara Bareilles' "Kaleidoscope Heart" and Yael Naim's "New Soul" -- with the entire company on stage, with "New Soul" mixed with a little Rodgers and Hammerstein ("I Am Going to Like It Here" from Flower Drum Song) performed by Patsita Jiratipayabood.

After the opening number, the program consisted of a mix of songs and dramatic pieces, with a little dance, too, the latter performed by Josh Levinson and Annie Simpson to the tune of Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine."

Musical highlights included Christine Polich's lovely performance of "My Ship" from Lady in the Dark; "The Song Is You," from Music in the Air, sung very nicely by Lizzie Rainville; Amy Stockhaus's spirited take on "Starbucks," a song from WaaMu: Waiting in the Wings about aspiring to be a barista while waiting for that big show biz chance; and Rachel Grimes and Kate Rozycki combining for a fresh and funny version of "Secondary Characters" from [title of show], the perfect musical for up-and-comers.

Three scenes from Lynn Nottage's By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, a play which will open at Chicago's Goodman Theater in April, also landed well, with stand-out work from Chantericka Tucker and Raven Stubbs as Hollywood maids who'd like to hit the big screen like their white employer.

The "Starbucks" song, Vera Stark and Angela Jos's scene from Lives of the Great Waitresses by Nina Shengold all seemed to resonate with these graduating seniors who may be toiling in obscurity while looking for their own big breaks after they graduate in May. Will they be making coffee, serving sandwiches or cater-waitering? Or rising right to the top like a host of IWU grads before them?

Wait and see... Tonight at 6 at Theater Wit.

A SHAYNA MAIDEL Soars at IWU

Barbara Lebow's A Shayna Maidel is a perfect example of how to explore an issue, something really weighty and important, through theatre. As she builds her drama around a family split by the Holocaust, Lebow keeps the focus on her characters, on how these specific people have been divided and damaged and changed forever. That effort makes the issues -- family, faith, loss -- achingly real and heartbreakingly human.

A Shayna Maidel centers on sisters Rose and Lusia, one brought up in America and one left behind in war-torn Poland, reunited for the first time since Rose was four. What should be a miracle, what is a miracle, doesn't come easily, as Rose and Lusia struggle to find common ground, to remember and to forget, and to figure out what family means there's nothing familiar there.

This is not an easy show for college-age actors, since it requires a great deal of maturity, especially from the actors playing Lusia, so fragile and so fierce, and her father Mordecai, who bears his own scars. Nancy B. Loitz, who directs A Shayna Maidel for Illinois Wesleyan University's School of Theatre Arts, draws excellent performances from Amy Stockhaus, who finds the emotional truth in Lusia, and Ian Scarlato, the rare 20-something who can credibly play a 70-year-old. I don't know how Scarlato manages it, honestly. But Mordecai's prickly pride, terrible regrets and inability to bend are clearly etched in Scarlato's performance.

Annie Simpson is very pretty, a "shayna maidel," indeed, as Rose, while Sarah Menke is a joy as Hana, the friend Lusia left behind, Allyce Torres is a warm presence as Mama, and Ben Mulgrew does beautifully with both sides -- the sweet youth of memory and the drawn, pale face of reality -- of Duvid, another broken piece of Lusia's heart.

Scenic Designer Curtis C. Trout mounts the action on three levels of golden wood in the cozy domesticity of Rose's New York apartment. It's a beautiful set with a clever little radio that lights up (and cues some nostalgic mood music, too.)

Zachery Wagner's costumes do a nice job of evoking the 40s, with pretty frocks and robes for Rose, a solemn suit for Mordecai, and a dreary sweater and skirt for poor Lusia. Who's who and where their heads are becomes clear just from the wardrobe.

This is not a short play -- it ran about 2:40 on the night I saw it -- and it takes a while to find its rhythm, with a costume change or two that trips up the pace in the early going. Act II goes much more smoothly, however, as emotion flows more freely and secrets are unlocked, building to a moving conclusion.

A SHAYNA MAIDEL
By Barbara Lebow

McPherson Theatre
Illinois Wesleyan University School of Theatre Arts

Director: Nancy B. Loitz
Scenic Designer: Curtis C. Trout
Costume Designer: Zachery Wagner
Lighting Designer: Stephen Sakowski
Sound Designer: Toby Jaguar Algya

Cast: Annie Simpson, Ian Scarlato, Amy Stockhaus, Sarah Menke, Allyce Torres and Ben Mulgrew

Remaining Performances: October 5 and 6 at 8 pm and October 7 at 2 pm.

Running Time: 2:40, including one 10-minute intermission

For ticket information, contact the box office at 309-556-3232 or visit www.iwu.edu/theatre.