Old-fashioned comedy, catchy show tunes and happy endings are all part of the show "Lucky Stiff," opening at Heritage Theatre in Perry this weekend.
Jacob Thompson of Deweyville is directing the show, which he saw for the first time about 10 years ago. "It is fun and fresh," he said.
Thompson said he caught the bug for acting and directing a little later in life than most. Although he had played the part of an orphan in a production of "Oliver" at the age of 8, and participated in high school choir, he didn't re-enter the theater arena again until he was 21.
"The theater has a unique way of entertaining, educating and enlightening people. Some shows leave a mark on your spirit. Others help you relax," Thompson said.
"Lucky Stiff" is more along the lines of pure entertainment, he said.
Thompson believes the lighthearted storyline is just what audiences are craving during current tough economic times.
"I like to see the vision that I have unfold on the stage. It's not something made with my hands like other art mediums, but it is still something to be proud of," he said of the directing experience.
The cast has 10 characters, five principal actors, four actors who play several more minor characters, and one actor playing a dead guy for the duration.
The plot
As the plot unfolds, lead character Harry Witherspoon, a shy shoe salesman from England, receives word that a distant uncle has been shot and killed. He has left his estate of $6 million to Harry, but only if Harry follows his instructions.
Harry is told that his uncle would never miss a vacation for anything, not even death, and his final wish was to take a trip to Monte Carlo.
In "Weekend at Bernie's" fashion, Harry hauls the corpse around in a wheelchair, irritated by the things he must do, but also liberated from his boring life and excited to be on an adventure.
If Harry, played by Brett Johnson of Layton, fails to carry out his uncle's wishes, the $6 million will go to a charity that benefits dogs.
Sarah Johnson, who in real life is married to Brett Johnson, plays the part of Annabel Glick, a sweet charity worker who shows up on Harry's adventure, determined to watch his every move and take the money if he makes a mistake.
The Johnsons met while singing in a show choir at Utah State University. The two married 10 years ago and have three sons, ages 7, 4 and 1.
Both enjoy acting and try to do at least one show per year despite their busy family life.
"Theater is our hobby. We try to get away and do it whenever we can," Sarah Johnson said.
The play is a fun one, she said: "It has a little twist and a fun ending you'd never expect."
Playing together
Another couple, Bree Hoskisson and Derek Hendricks of Roy, are also cast in the show. The two have been dating for the past five years and frequently appear in shows together, participating in about five shows each per year.
Hoskisson plays Rita, a hard-edged chain smoker from New York who totes a gun and is determined to get her hands on the $6 million she says was stolen from her.
She pulls her brother, Vinnie Di Ruzzio, a quiet optometrist played by Hendricks, into the plot and spends a lot of time pushing him around.
Hoskisson is currently pursuing a musical theater degree at Weber State University, and Hendricks earned his associate's degree in theater from Western Wyoming Community College.
"We have a song together. It is the first time we've gotten to sing onstage -- just the two of us," Hoskisson said.
7:30 p.m. Monday/Friday/Saturday, April 13-May 12; 2 p.m. April 21, 28.
The audience was silent as W.S. Merwin, former US poet laureate, read his poetry at the 27th National Undergraduate Literature Conference opening banquet, held at the Timbermine Steakhouse from 6:30-9 p.m.
NULC began in 1985, when Weber State University professors Mikel Vause and Michael Meyer had the idea to organize a conference giving undergraduates only the opportunity to present their papers, both critical and creative, to peers from campuses across the country.
Before Merwin began, students and professors from more than 77 colleges had the chance to mingle.
WSU senior Eric Riddle said this was his first time being accepted to the conference and attending the banquet.
“I didn’t really know what it was,” Riddle said, “but I was told there was an opportunity for undergrads to submit to the conference, and that’s a pretty novel thing.”
Rachel Rigley, also a WSU student attending the banquet for the first time, had a positive response when asked about NULC.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Rigley said. “It’s good to have a conference where you can be encouraged and be immersed in the world of writing and get feedback from other writers.”
The before-meal time was also an opportunity for students to meet with visiting authors.
“I’m really excited to meet these people,” Riddle said. “It’s always a pleasure to meet fellow authors, people who have actually made it, as opposed to people like me who want to be a cool author, so it’s always nice to be able to meet someone who has done it and lived the dream.”
After the meal, Merwin stepped up to the podium.
“I’m very happy to be here,” Merwin said. “You know, the more often we say things, the less they really mean, and yet it’s like saying thank you. The more you meant it, the less it sounds to be adequate, and yet that’s the only thing you can say.”
For an hour and a half, Merwin related his inspiration behind his poetry and read several of his poems.
When speaking about what he wanted to do when he was younger, Merwin said he always responded, “I’m going to write poems.”
Even when people asked him how he was going to make a living, Merwin stayed with his answer.
Merwin’s poetry received a standing ovation, and many people stayed after the speech to have books signed.
“I thought that he had a lot of good poetry,” Riddle said. “His use of language, the things he was able to convey through his poems, was very interesting and really well done.”
Rigley agreed about Merwin’s poetry.
“Even though the meal was horrible — I basically paid $30 to get a bowl of pasta drenched in butter — the actual poetry reading was great,” she said.
OGDEN — Weber State University’s Art Guild will hold its annual Student Art Sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, April 11 and 12, on campus. The event will be held in The Lair, in the Shepherd Union Building, on campus at 3848 Harrison Blvd.
OGDEN — The strings will ring in a night of string chamber music at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 9.
The concert, by Weber State University musicians, is in the Browning Center’s Garrison Choral Room (Room 136), on campus at 3848 Harrison Blvd.
This spring’s program will feature a variety of music for ensembles, ranging from Schubert’s Trout Quintet to a guitar and string quartet by Boccherini, as well as compositions by Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Ravel.
In addition to violin, viola, cello and string bass, instruments will also include harp, guitar and piano.
This is a free concert; age 8 and older are welcome to attend.
The Weber State University performing arts department’s 2011-2012 theater season came to a close with the showing of a completely student-run production, The Cradle Will Rock. The show was put on by the Associated Actors and Technicians.
“I love the student-directed stuff here just because it really shows the intense dedication,” said Shauna Ross, who has recently joined AAT and was house manager for the performances, enabling her to see the show several times.
The show was directed by Trent Cox, a theater education major at WSU. According to Cox, there were several difficulties that could go along with holding the title of student director.
“It’s difficult kind of drawing that line between ‘Now I’m director, and now I’m your friend,’” Cox said. “But I feel like there wasn’t any issues with that or anything. I wouldn’t say just as a student director, but as a director in general, just the material is difficult. It’s a 75-year-old play, and just relating it to nowadays is a great challenge.”
The Cradle Will Rock was written by Marc Blitzstein and was originally part of the Federal Theater Project in the 1930s, a program used to put theaters back to work during the Great Depression. However, the program had some past problems with censorship, and shortly before it was about to open, the show was shut down.
“The cast and director (Orson Welles) gathered the opening night audience, the cast and one piano, and walked 21 blocks to a new theater, and performers were told they were going to be arrested if they performed the show on stage because of ‘political overtones,’” Cox said.
He said that Marc Blitztein just got up and started performing the show’s music by piano, and one by one the cast members got up from the audience and sang their parts, performing the entire opening show within the audience.
“I just go to thinking what a great experience that would be as an audience member, as a performer, as just someone in the theater at that time; so I wanted to put that into nowadays and relate that to now,” Cox said.
The in-audience feel of the performance may have been the live piano performance of all the show’s music by music director Rick Rea, and even having the cast perform its own side effects off-stage while the show continued.
The show is about an average American town in the 1930s called Steeltown, USA, which is being rocked by the efforts of an average worker, Larry Foreman, to form a laborers’ union. This doesn’t go over well with greedy steel tycoon, Mr. Mister, as he’s gone out of his way to own the entire town from the preachers to the press in order to make sure this very thing doesn’t happen.
Foreman is arrested giving a public speech about the union along with a group of Mister’s various henchman called the Liberty Committee who were sent to break up the speech and are awaiting Mr. Mister to bail them out for their loyalty. Each of their stories are told of how they sold their souls for Mr. Mister’s money, and in the end it is left up to the people to decide whether the union or a corporate agenda will succeed.
“Mr. Mister, who’s like the government, he owns everything, he pays everyone off to say what he thinks is good to help him personally,” said Addison Welch, the graduating theater performance student who played Larry Foreman. “But we need to fight for what we know is true and what we know is right.”
Welch believes that the show deals with some of the issues faced in today’s politics, and even though they aren’t exact, he still finds them to be applicable.
“I’ve had to really be honest and truthful and pull from what I know is true from the situations happening in our media right now, our life right now, and apply to this character in the thirties,” Welch said.
The show closed last Saturday, but AAT is opened for all students to join if anyone has interest in these opportunities for the upcoming theater season.
“I think the central theme is talking about those weaker people, the people that weren’t part of the richer class,” Ross said. “This theme is about those people that got tired of being suppressed. They got tired of being pushed down, and they were able to build up into these unions and help to support what America is today and the rights that we have.”
The annual National Undergraduate Literature Conference at Weber State University features a highly acclaimed poet who has twice won the Pulitzer Prize and a former Ogden author whose first novel took an unflinching look at a seemingly perfect Mormon family.
The conference, originally founded by WSU English professor Mikel Vause and former faculty member Michael Meyer, was a way to help WSU students prepare to attend graduate school, explained Carl Porter, executive director of academic support and also a WSU English instructor.
The conference first started off as a state conference, where students could share their work with other students as well as listen to and get input from notable writers. It soon expanded nationally and was attracting students from across the country.
Porter and Vause now head the conference, which is in its 27th year. This year, it attracted about 350 student submissions from colleges and universities across the country. Porter said about 180 of those students were invited to present at the conference.
The student breakout sessions happen between presentations by the featured writers and are usually presented around a theme such British literature, American literature, Shakespeare, etc. The student work includes poetry, prose, fiction, short stories, essays and more. A complete schedule of the student presentations is available at nulc2012.com.
"I really would like the community to come up and participate and be a part of this and to see not only the professional writers, but also the young writers who are honing their skills here at the university," Porter said. "I think that they would find it enjoyable."
W.S. Merwin
In a career spanning half a century, W.S. Merwin, poet, translator and environmental activist, has become one of the most widely read -- and imitated -- poets in America.
The author of more than 50 books of poetry, prose and translations, Merwin was named in 2010 by the Library of Congress as the 17th United States Poet Laureate Consultant. Included in his awards are the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the Bollingen Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and two Pulitzers, first in 1971 for his book of poems, "The Carrier of Ladders," and again in 2009 for "The Shadow of Sirius."
The son of a Presbyterian minister, for whom he began writing hymns at the age of 5, Merwin went to Europe as a young man and developed a love of languages that led to work as a literary translator. Over the years, his poetic voice has moved from the formal and medieval to a more distinctly American voice. His recent poetry is his most personal, arising from his deeply held beliefs as an anti-imperialist, pacifist and environmentalist.
Merwin lives, writes, and gardens on a former pineapple plantation on the northeast corner of the island of Maui in Hawaii. He has spent the last 30 years planting 19 acres with over 800 species of palm, creating a sustainable forest. The property has recently been turned into a conservancy, the Merwin Conservancy.
Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner
Utah native Robert Hodgson Van Wagoner's first novel, "Dancing Naked" (Signature Books, 1999), was awarded the Utah Book Award and the Utah Arts Council's Publication Prize.
"Dancing Naked" tells the story of an even-tempered, successful mathematics professor who is comfortable with the predictability of his life in a quiet Salt Lake City subdivision. However, that control is just an illusion and something his 15-year-old son never lets him forget. A sensitive boy, his son is also harboring a secret.
The father's inability to accept what he knows -- and does not know -- about his son takes a devastating toll. American novelist and screenwriter Tim Sandlin wrote that the book "stares deep into the heart of intolerance, grief, and redemption, and does not blink."
Van Wagoner's short stories have appeared in literary periodicals, magazines and anthologies. His two forthcoming novels, scheduled to debut this summer, are both literary thrillers, and influenced by the traditions and landscapes unique to their settings. The books are titled "Cautionary Tales in Ogden, Utah," and "Come the Stygian Night."
A graduate of Weber State University, Van Wagoner and his family live in Washington.
OGDEN — In the 17th century, poet John Donne penned the line “No man is an island, entire of itself.” Is it true, or was Paul Simon closer to the truth when he wrote “I am a rock, I am an island” about 350 years later?
“Coil,” a new piece of choreography, explores the question of how connected people are to society and the world.
Weber State University’s Moving Company performs the dance at 4:15 p.m. Thursday, March 29, in the Browning Center’s Austad Auditorium, on campus at 3848 Harrison Blvd. Admission is free.
“Coil,” inspired by Donne’s “Meditation XVII,” is a collaboration between Moving Company and the university’s chamber choir, with 15 dancers and 24 singers performing.
Additional performances are scheduled for local sixth through ninth grade students who are receiving study materials created by WSU graduate student Jennifer Alverson and professor Gary Dohrer.
These performances are part of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, hosted March 29-31 by Weber State University. WSU students Brett Cragun and ShayLynne Clark studied the collaboration that created “Coil” and will present their data at 8:30 a.m. Thursday in Room 136 of the Browning Center.
Oral presentations and poster sessions at the conference, covering undergraduate research on everything from science and history to electrical engineering and legal studies, are open to the public.
For more information about “Coil,” call 801-626-6431. For information about the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, including presentation schedules, visit www.weber.edu/ncur2012.
The Weber State University Symphonic Band and WSU Wind Ensemble will perform in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, in the Browning Center’s Austad Auditorium, on campus at 3848 Harrison Blvd.
The Weber StateUniversity Browning String Trio will present a concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, in the Browning Center’s Garrison Choral Room, on campus at 3848 Harrison Blvd.
The Flute Studio Spring Concert will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, in the Browning Center’s Garrison Choral Room at Weber StateUniversity, 3848 Harrison Blvd.
OGDEN — Weber State University’s Mary Elizabeth Shaw Gallery will host the project exhibit of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, which comes to WSU this week.
The exhibit of student projects will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, at the gallery. For information, call 801-626-7689 or visit www.weber.edu/dova.
First Published Mar 14 2012 03:04 pm • Last Updated Mar 14 2012 03:04 pm
Similar to Emile Zola’s Germinal, John Sayles’ "Matewan" and Elia Kazan’s "On the Waterfront," "The Cradle Will Rock" is a classic of working-class drama and literature. A classic, except for the fact that some people still know nothing about it.
Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 story of Larry Foreman’s attempts to unionize workers in "Steeltown, USA" in opposition to Mr. Mister sounds almost cartoonish in its outline, but impressed Orson Welles so much that he directed it as part of the Federal Theatre Project’s series of works that began as a program of the Works Progress Administration to employ unemployed artists, actors and theater writers during the Depression. The WPA, in turn, was so alarmed by unabashed political message behind Blitzstein’s drama that they tried to shut it down. Weber State University’s department of performing arts has selected "The Cradle Will Rock" both for its superlative qualities that stand alone, matched with its current relevance to the Occupy movement.
Trent Cox, director of this production, stated in press materials that the hand of German dramatist Bertolt Brecht guided his hand. "Ninety percent of the show is either sung or has musical underscoring—a great challenge," Cox notes.
‘The Cradle Will Rock’ When » March 23-31, 7:30 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinee March 31. Where » Eccles Theater at Val A. Browning Center for the Arts, Weber State University, 3848 Harrison Blvd, Ogden Tickets » $8-$11. Call 1-800-WSU-TIKS or visit www.weberstatetickets.com for more information.
