|
By JANET COOK
News staff writer
February 7, 2007
Jeanette Burkhardt has never directed a
full-length theater production until now but that didn’t stop her from
taking on a big challenge for her first one, as audiences will find
out when “Mud” opens Friday night at the Columbia Center for the Arts.
“Mud,” by renowned Cuban-American playwright Maria Irene Fornes, is a
stark play that takes place in an unnamed rural setting beset by
poverty. There are only three characters: Mae, an uneducated woman who
dreams of more for her life; Lloyd, an illiterate man who lives with
Mae; and Henry, who can read and write and whom Mae is consequently
taken with.
The play explores issues of poverty and a spectrum of related topics
through the intertwined lives of these characters.
Burkhardt, a veteran of CAST (Hood
River’s community theater), read a variety of plays before deciding
she wanted to take on “Mud.”
“It appealed to me on so many levels,” Burkhardt said. “And it
intimidated me, so I thought, that’s the one you have to do.”
Fornes — who has been a director, a teacher and a mentor to many
up-and-coming playwrights — is known for her unique directing methods
as well as her precise stage settings.
“She was a visual artist before she got in to theater, so she’s very
particular about placement” of props and settings, Burkhardt said.
“Many things are left out, but the things that remain are very
important.
“I’ve tried to incorporate her methods,”
she added. Jim Bull, production coordinator for CAST, and a crew of
volunteers, have created a stage setting along those lines.
“It’s a very particular visual image we’re trying to get at — a
feeling,” Burkhardt said. “The lighting and set have to not just match
but enhance what’s going on.”
Burkhardt said the play “touches on some difficult issues,” so she has
arranged to have post-show discussions after each Saturday evening
performance. Burkhardt, the cast members and local theater veterans
Richard Parker and Althea Hukari — both of whom have worked with
Fornes — will be on hand for the discussions.
“I think the play asks a lot of questions, and not in a really blatant
way,” Burkhardt said. “It just makes you think and wonder about the
nature of human relationships. It’s one of those plays that leaves you
needing to think about it more.”
Burkhardt said she has been very impressed with her cast. (Anne Marie
Untalan plays Mae; Eric Shoudel plays Lloyd; and Tom Butler plays
Henry.)
“All three willingly took on what they
knew would be a big challenge,” she said. “I’ve asked them to go
places that are uncomfortable — and I’ve gone places that are
uncomfortable to me. We’ve done it together. It’s a very tight
ensemble.” Burkhardt credits her mentor and friend Althea Hukari for
helping with both her directing of the production as well as for
working with the cast to help them “connect to the essence of the
characters.”
One of the biggest challenges for Burkhardt and the cast has been
trying to truly get themselves into the mindset of the very poor and
marginalized.
“It’s set in rural poverty and I think it’s really hard for people who
haven’t lived that way to understand what it’s like to live that way,”
Burkhardt said. “It affects your sense of hope, your sense of what
your options are.”
“Mud” has “a lot of contradictions to it,” Burkhardt said. “Just like
life.”
******************************************
“Mud” opens Friday, Feb. 9, at the
Columbia Center for the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave., in Hood River. It runs
Feb. 10, 16, 17, 23 and 24. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
available at Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River and Collage of the Gorge
in White Salmon, as well as at the door. Tickets are $10 in advance,
$12 at the door.
*****
Due to mature themes and language, the play is recommended for adult
audiences. |
