WVUP Theater

By Patrick Garvey
During the summer months two plays were produced and performed on campus.

The first was performed by Spanish students as part of the Summer Spanish Theatre Seminar. The class had a special guest advisor, director on the production of Packing Up the Past, Dr. Francisco Cabello. Cabello could not stay for the night it opened because of conflicts in his teaching at Concordia College in Minnesota but his experience in Spain’s independent theatre movement gave a structure from which the second director, Mrs. Gusta Arrington, could build from.

The play was about two aging women reuniting after years of absence from each other’s lives. It was performed completely in Spanish with subtext projected on a screen. Susan Cleaver played Ana, the younger, reckless daughter who ran away as a teen, returning to help the best she can after both parents die. Laura, portrayed by Jane Wilson, is the elder and more responsible of the two. Both women try to stay escaped from and heal their relationships of the past. This play reaches out to all women of the world in their trials and tribulations.

Even though one may not speak or understand much Spanish it did not take long before the actions of the drama overcame the language barrier and spoke to the audience in a nondirective unique manner. Working as a student assistant over the summer my duties were to assist Arrington and Cabello in finding their way around the theatre, doing a portrait of what the domineering father would look like, helping a third student, Douglas Life, with technical sides of the light booth, and handling props.

Patient A, by Lee Blessing, was the second play. It was a social conscious drama dealing with the first known case of a woman diagnosed with AIDS. Kimberly Bregalis was played by theatre veteran Heather Sammons in a striking and memorable performance. The audience soon finds out who the culprit was. The interacting narrative was voiced by the character of Blessing, performed by WVUP theatre alum Dave Prather. Matthew, played by another veteran of the stage Bill Knotts, represented the other faces of AIDS: infected gay men who are ignored by the world.

The production was a collaboration between WVUP and Stage Too, a company of the Actors Guild of Parkersburg. The experienced and the extensiveness of those behind the scenes involved the crew’s history and culminated into this awakening piece. The director Charlie Matthews, known for his dedication and sight, assistant director Sabrina Dye, technical assistant Jessi Hiemer for her design and painterly skills, and production assistant Melody Carson as the eye in the sky, all make for a landmark staging for the collaborative efforts of two celebrated institutes.

Keep an eye out for the fall dates of WVUP’s theatre with bulletins outside Room 1305 announcing future productions and activities. For further information contact Humanities Division Chair Nancy Nanney in Room 1214, or Caron Soelberg in Office, Room 1309.