Freshman Emily Clare Biggs as Alex (left),Senior Jessica Hillenbrand as Mary (middle), and Junior Danielle Renella as Fanny (right). (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
By Kate Stringer, Staff Writer stringer14@up.edu
When traversing into the wilderness it is important to take three things: a machete, a Victorian pith hat, and an umbrella for poking hippopotami.
At least that's the advice given by the characters in UP's production of "On the Verge", a play by Eric Overmyer about three female explorers from the Victorian era setting out to discover a new world, Terra Incognita.
While they don't encounter a hippopotamus, the women undergo bizarre occurrences. Foreign objects mysteriously appear in their luggage. Strange words begin pouring from their tongues. Women walk around in trousers.
Terra Incognita forces the women to confront their fears and anticipations of the unknown. While Alex (sophomore Emily Clare Biggs) demands they embrace their new world, Fanny (junior Danielle Renella) is as accepting of the future as she is of "cyclones, pit vipers, and bad grammar."
Director Andrew Golla believes the play intentionally leaves the audience with unresolved questions about the future.
"The play asks 'how do we face the future? How do we go into the future?" Golla said. "Do we face it with fear, with anxiety or do we look at it as an opportunity for discovery, for change? Is change good?"
Perhaps the most inspiring reaction to this mysterious landscape is seen in Mary (senior Jessica Hillenbrand), who literally blazes a trail into unknown territory with a machete in one hand and a superlative vocabulary in the other. Mary finds the future to be something more familiar than strange when she says "We are imbued with the future...nostalgia for the future."
Hillenbrand greatly admires her character's bravery.
"She is a very strong, courageous, independent woman despite the very male dominated world she comes from," Hillenbrand said. "She's off chopping jungles with a machete and trying to establish connections with cultures. She's incredibly passionate about what she does and very much enthralled with the discovery of new people and new places."
The feeling of being in a new environment is vividly communicated through sound and lighting rather than the changing of sets.
"We wanted the sound of the beach, the jungle, the sound of the glacial ice bridge - we wanted all of that to create the environment to help the audience imagine," Golla said.
Hillenbrand, Renella, Biggs, and junior Matthew Sepeda make up the cast with Sepeda playing eight different characters.
"If you want to get technical, I actually have 9 characters because one is very split personality type," Sepeda said. "[It was challenging] defining and crafting each one of my characters and making them distinct from each other - physicality wise, voice wise, even their personal history."
Playing eight different characters also requires being in two places at once. For Sepeda, one costume change happens before the audience realizes he's left the stage.
"It's actually a little stressful because I have 15 seconds to change into another costume and I literally have to go crawl under the stage," Sepeda said.
Hillenbrand said the most challenging aspect of the play is the physical exertion that is required in every scene.
"We have big travel backpacks that are filled with machetes, umbrellas and a bunch of equipment," Hillenbrand said. "We also have big skirts and petticoats, so we have to hike up our skirts and step over stuff or chop through vines. It is exhausting - I have winded myself."
Perhaps even more exciting than getting to wield a machete is the message of hope Hillenbrand found in the play.
"It's the idea of being on the edge of something and at that point in life where you ask, 'do I take that step back into what I know or do I take the step off the cliff into who knows what?' You have to be, prepared, sure, but you have to be really optimistic. You have to be excited to take this step forward."
Entertain Me
Listen to... the Portland Cello Project
When I think of Cello's, typically I don't think of them playing Radiohead, but evidently they do.
On September 22nd, I went and saw Portland Cello Project at the Aladdin theater and it completely changed my perception of classical music. Portland Cello Project is a group of 6 cellists who play/transpose mainstream music on the cello. The theme of the show that I saw was "Ok Computer" which is a Radiohead album.
Hearing cellos and other classical instruments play modern music was one of the most bizarre yet rewarding experiences. I absolutely loved the music and it was fantastic to have a different perspective of these instruments.
While at first I thought I would hate the music because it was so far from the norm of cellos, I quickly found myself captivated by how cool the whole situation was. I could not stop staring at the cello players rocking out on stage.
If your looking for a cool yet different rock show the Portland Cello Players are for you. So if you ever get the chance to hear them perform, I would highly suggest it.
-Shellie Adams
Read... The Casual Vacancy
And I thought a dark wizarding lord's attempt to murder a baby was depressing.
I think I stopped comparing "The Casual Vacancy" to "Harry Potter" when I realized there was more swearing and sex in the first two pages than in the entire seven book "Potter" series.
On Sept. 27, J.K. Rowling released her first novel for adults, "The Casual Vacancy". The story takes place in a small English town called Pagford, but that's about as cheery as it gets. Within the first five pages, the main character Barry dies, leaving a vacant position in the local parish council. The fight to obtain his seat reveals a town that is entirely despicable, yet entirely real.
Social status trumps concern for a sexually abused teenager. A family's obsession with work ethic masks a dyslexic daughter's obsession with cutting. Sex is sold in exchange for love that doesn't exist.
While it takes seven books for Hogwarts to crumble, Rowling pulls apart the bricks of Pagford page by page. The broken characters creating havoc inside their broken world is difficult to witness, yet Rowling's intense network of characters coupled with her witty writing makes her reader pay attention.
"The Casual Vacancy" has a magic of its own that makes it worth the read. It might contain more dementors than cheering charms but the message is the same. Whether they exist in the Gryffindor common room or the slums of Pagford, Rowling shows that these broken characters are not unlike ourselves. And that is magical.
-Kate Stringer
Junior Danielle Renella performs as Fanny in UP’s production of On the Verge. (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
Junior Danielle Renella as Fanny (left), freshman Emily Clare Biggs as Alex, senior Jessica Hillenbrand as Mary (middle), junior Matt Sepeda (right). (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
Junior Danielle Renella as Fanny (right), senior Jessica Hillenbrand as Mary (middle), freshman Emily Clare Biggs as Alex (left). (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
