2008 Woodie Awards
SCSU to debut play 'Maiden'
Kyle Kuphal
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Intermission
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The department of theatre, film studies and dance kicks off the 2007-08 season Friday with its production of "Death and the Maiden" by Ariel Dorfman.
The play opens at 8 p.m. Friday on the arena stage in the basement of the Performing Arts Center. It runs Friday through Sunday.
Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m. The play will also be shown Oct. 26-28 with the same show times.
With little time before the play opens, director Brenda Wentworth sits in the front row during rehearsal Sunday, wearing a headset to communicate with the lighting and sound technicians.
She intently watches every aspect of the play, taking notes in a notebook illuminated by a clip-on light.
"Can we take this scene change again?" she asks. "The tape recorder's not on stage."
Everyone resets, and the last part of the scene is done again, followed by the scene change.
This time, when the lights come back on, the tape recorder is where it belongs.
"Can that black out be faster?" she asks a few minutes later after stopping the play again. "Just as fast as you can make it."
After the rehearsal, she tells the actors to go ahead and change out. The stagehands carry out the props and she looks over her notes.
"Oh God," she says, "it's going great. Almost every thing is going well, and this is only our second tech rehearsal."
Wentworth, who has taught theater, film studies and dance at SCSU for 16 years, has been preparing for the play since the semester began.
"I auditioned actors the first day of classes," she said.
Wentworth then selected the cast that Friday and started rehearsals Sunday, Sept. 9.
Wentworth said she wasn't originally going to do the play, but when she reread it, she changed her mind.
"The play deals with the question 'What is justice?' and the issue of torture," she said.
Wentworth said the issue of torture is significant today because the United States is committing acts of torture in prisons around the world.
The play opens at 8 p.m. Friday on the arena stage in the basement of the Performing Arts Center. It runs Friday through Sunday.
Friday and Saturday shows begin at 8 p.m., and Sunday matinees begin at 2 p.m. The play will also be shown Oct. 26-28 with the same show times.
With little time before the play opens, director Brenda Wentworth sits in the front row during rehearsal Sunday, wearing a headset to communicate with the lighting and sound technicians.
She intently watches every aspect of the play, taking notes in a notebook illuminated by a clip-on light.
"Can we take this scene change again?" she asks. "The tape recorder's not on stage."
Everyone resets, and the last part of the scene is done again, followed by the scene change.
This time, when the lights come back on, the tape recorder is where it belongs.
"Can that black out be faster?" she asks a few minutes later after stopping the play again. "Just as fast as you can make it."
After the rehearsal, she tells the actors to go ahead and change out. The stagehands carry out the props and she looks over her notes.
"Oh God," she says, "it's going great. Almost every thing is going well, and this is only our second tech rehearsal."
Wentworth, who has taught theater, film studies and dance at SCSU for 16 years, has been preparing for the play since the semester began.
"I auditioned actors the first day of classes," she said.
Wentworth then selected the cast that Friday and started rehearsals Sunday, Sept. 9.
Wentworth said she wasn't originally going to do the play, but when she reread it, she changed her mind.
"The play deals with the question 'What is justice?' and the issue of torture," she said.
Wentworth said the issue of torture is significant today because the United States is committing acts of torture in prisons around the world.