Student theater community reveals creativity

This story appeared as part of the 2010 Year In Review issue. The Daily Tar Heel resumes publication Jan. 10.

This school year, the student theater community at UNC has displayed consistent innovation.

In various student-run companies, one-of-a-kind performances have flourished, whether the successes be adaptations of movies, musicals or one-man shows.

Vertigo

Lucius Robinson bridged the complex gap between film and a live performance.
A senior in the Department of Communication Studies, Robinson adapted Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “Vertigo” for the stage in November.

“I’ve always been fond of the movie,” Robinson said. “We had to choose one for a project, and I thought this would be a cool four-person play.”

With the help of artist-in-residence and professor Joseph Megel, Robinson worked to capture the core of the twisted story and to provoke questions in the minds of the audience.
“We can ask ourselves how we can refrain from facing our own reality, what are we limited by, what are we controlled by, and what images we feel we need to adhere to today,” graduate student Marie Garlock said.

Sweet Charity

Despite budget constraints, Pauper Players, which produces strictly musicals, put on a small-scale performance of a popular hit, “Sweet Charity.”

The musical contains multiple complex dance numbers and was performed with live music in the small Union Cabaret.

After the Historic Playmakers Theatre closed for renovations four years ago, Pauper was forced to move into the marginally smaller cabaret.

But the move didn’t harm the production’s quality.

Olivia Myrick, executive director of publicity for Pauper, said the more intimate space made it easier for the audience to connect to the actors and the show. The musical’s director, Michael McWaters, agreed.
“It allows for a more unique theatrical experience,” he said. “The audience doesn’t feel so detached from the action.”

Thom Pain

In the Bingham Hall Blackbox, senior Zac Moon became Thom Pain.

The LAB! one-man show of the same name, written by playwright Will Eno, was an idea that Moon proposed.

“It’s not like a lot of one-man shows, in that it’s not perfectly structured,” Moon said. “There are a lot of things that happen that are sort of unexpected.”

The group of three — actor, director and stage manager — who worked on the play found interpreting the script to be a daunting task.

“There is a really dense, well thought out vagueness to the script,” said senior Doug Harris, the play’s director. “We want people to look at Thom as a real person, not as a character.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.