True West
by Sam Shepard
Town & Gown Players, 2003-4 Second Stage season
Jason had a hankering to do this good Shepard script and talked Patrick into directing the project. Quincy and Dan joined a fine cast featuring Fran in her first onstage role since Doctor Faustus. (I helped with set construction.)
The action takes place in Mom's kitchen somewhere in central California. Patrick, who loves the movies and writes keenly about them, designed the set with a reversal of angle: At intermission the whole thing turns 180 degrees. Nice effect, though it means a job of work for the crew. The view at right shows the Act 1 angle a day before the show opened. The window will have muslin curtains and the walls will get more plants; the big table will end up nearer Center. Lighting designer Stef is yarning with Fran and Daniel, in the front row, before dress rehearsal. Below, you can see the two of them taking it all in.
Typical Second Stage productions at Town & Gown use minimal sets; Patrick felt a fuller presentation was more appropriate for this one, especially since he had an extra week to build it, the theater being dark for Easter.
The show includes some quite violent action, and lots of the set pieces are gaffed so the performers won't destroy the kitchen, or one another. In Act 2, the refrigerator stands in front of this door, and Jason and Quincy lurch into it. First time they rehearsed the scene, the fridge just glided out into the wings, causing a painful and disruptive episode of laughter from the crew. Patrick was not amused, so I built a retainer to prevent recurrences. At right you see Patrick (left) and John, the Stage Manager, improving the Stage Right wall. The phone is made to come apart when Quincy pulls, so that he can use the cord on Jason without having to lug the whole prop across the stage. Three nights before opening, somebody thought it looked fragile, so they corrected it by replugging all the connectors. Quincy gave one calculated tug, then a mighty heave, and the whole thing flew to pieces, necessitating lengthy explanations to the owner of the piece.
There's also some business involving the demolition of an old manual typewriter. I can't bear to watch.
At left, John seems apprehensive about something; he may have realized how much stuff he's going to have to strike, rehang and set at intermission.
Town & Gown playgoers will recall Jason as the crooning GI in Biloxi Blues and the abundantly helmeted Fire Chief in The Bald Soprano; he and Quincy have lots of acting credits both with us and on campus. Dan is an award-winning playwright in the M.F.A. program at the university. Fran has directed a dozen or so Mainstage and Second Stage productions for Town & Gown. Patrick not only writes the "Movie Pick" column for the Flagpole but also impressed our audiences with his production of The Bald Soprano last fall.
True West opens April 16 for a one-weekend run. Tix are cheap and you should come see it.
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True West