MMC Getting Set For Spring Production

By Andrew Atwal
andrew.atwal@yankton.net

When director Stephen English set out to direct pick a play for the upcoming Mount Marty College spring production of “The Small Room At The Top Of The Stairs,” he decided on a post-modern show that would be performed in the small bistro area on campus.

The bistro setting will feature audience members up close and sitting around all sides of the stage.

“I like this kind of environment,” English said. “When I was in grad school, we had three or four different spaces to perform in. One was thrust-style like this. Two years ago was the first show I did in this space with this type of style.”

He added that, up until that production, he had never seen anything on campus that was thrust style.

“The comments were very positive about it,” English said. “In some ways, it has to be more real because audience members are not looking from afar like with a show in a big auditorium. In the larger theater space, what a director does not want you to see can be hidden. This is far more open.”

The play is based on a French folk fairy tale, and the author of the play gets a lot of her material from the original fairy tale.

“This is really the definition of a post-modern play,” English said. “With the post-modern culture, a lot of times productions don’t make sense or have a conclusion, and this one may leave the audience asking a lot of questions.”

The play follows a young woman named Grace, who has just married an older man. The man, who is rich, gives her his entire house and says everything in it is hers. The only thing he asks is that she does not go into a small room at the top of the stairs.

“Nature ultimately dictates that she must discover what’s in the room,” English said. “The production is about her finding out what’s in the room and, when she does find out what’s inside, it is not what she or the audience expect it to be.”

After Grace finds out what is in the room, the questions are asked about what exactly is the thing she finds and what does it mean.

English said the play is a thriller and has a sort of “Hitchcock” type of feel to it.

“It’s really a mystery because we don’t know what is in the room, so Grace needs to go in and discover what is inside,” he said. “Audience members will want to know what is in the room, as well.”

English added that Grace represents all of us that want life to be like the fairy tale. But, he said, the play posses the questions such as, is a fairy tale really what we want? The play also asks a number of questions and concerns on social issues.

“The play will ask a lot of questions, and it really wants audience members to go there with the characters and wonder about what’s happening and what the answers are,” English said. “It’s a different kind of play for us here at Mount Marty and for the Yankton audience. I’m not sure how the audience will react — some may think it’s neat and interactive in the small space, others, who are used to the more traditional style of theater, may not understand it.”

Because the production is in a smaller space, there are only about 75 tickets available for each show. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. April 24-27.

English said rehearsals have been going well, but some of the actors in the production are not used to the thrust style of setting.

“It’s a different style, even for our actors,” he said. “When they’re not on stage, actors sit in chairs around the outside of the stage, so they can be seen by audience members even when they’re not in a scene.”

English added that actors need to be more focused in the smaller environment.

“I was saying to an actor the other night, ‘You need to find a way of engaging the audience. Even though they’re close, you need to draw them in to what you’re doing without making physical eye contact with them,’” he said. “Actors need to be able to look through audience members so that when you talk, the audience will hear it as if it’s said directly to them.”

English said there is some mature content in the production, so he tags it with the ‘PG-13’ rating.

“It deals with a lot of material that asks deep questions,” he said. “The original fairy tale is about a man who murders his first three wives, but a lot of that doesn’t follow suit in this play. This is very modern in its use of the material from the fairy tale.”

Cast List:
Grace — Brooke Fischer
Henry — Ben Gothier
Anne — Raegan Layher
Joyce — Gina Dethlefsen
Jenny — Samantha Tobey
Director and Designer — Stephen English
Costume Designer — Dawn Ferris

You can follow Andrew Atwal on Twitter at twitter.com/andrewatwal