Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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The cast watches intently as Zappy (Judson Jones) runs toward Marian

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Zappy ' s face betrays his anxiety before the tennis match Creighton ' s first production of the 1987-88 dramatic season was Angels Fall. The play written by Langford Wilson was set in a small adobe mission in Nor- thwestern New Mexico. It begins at 5 p.m. on a Saturday in June. A nuclear accident has occurred in a nearby mining town and the six characters are trapped in the reser- vation ' s church. The cast included Bill VanDeest as Dr. Dan Tabaha; a young Indian studying to be a doctor. He is faced with a difficult decision of whether to stay at the reserva- tion or take a research job. Michael A. Shouse played a burned-out Art History teacher Niles Harris who is on his way to a psychiatrist. His wife Vita was played by Amy Earlbacher. Judson C. Jones was cast as Salvatore (Zappy) Zappala, a pro-tennis player. His girlfriend, Marion Clay-a recent widow was played by Amy M. Harmon. Father William Doherty, the reservation ' s priest, was portrayed by Brian J. Kokensparger, S.J. Each character is facing a period of conflict and turmoil in their lives. In the short time they spend together they help provide each other with new insights toward their problems. The play was performed from Oct. 7 through Oct. 11 at the Interim Perform- ing Arts Center. Marian (Amy Harmon) enthusiastical- ly describes her husband ' s artwork ' Angels Fair

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Creighton has a commitment to developing values consciousness on the part of its students. In accordance with this Jesuit tradition, the Creighton Theatre program seeks to present plays which explore questions of value. This concern was a major reason for the inclu- sion of Lanford Wilson ' s 1983 play Angels Fall in our 1987-88 season. Angels Fall deals with a number of im- portant questions, including: in the face of a world which appears heading for apocalypse, what manner of persons ought we to be? What are the roles of teachers, preachers and parents? What does it mean to have vocation, or calling? What kind of legacies do we want to leave to future generations? It has been a real joy working with the cast on this show. They are all talented and dedicated performers, and they work well together-which is essential, since Angels Fall is an ensemble show. The play is an investigation of character and relationships, as each character learns from the others when they are all forced together in a crisis situation (because of a nuclear-related accident). We have work- ed with images of the angel and the fallen angel in forcing each other to confront personal issues and to grow as human beings. Angels Fall is a play about us-real human beings living in the contemporary world--and Lanford Wilson views us honestly but with com- passion and humor. To help the per- formers develop the full humanity of their characters, we have done a number of ex- ercises, including first-person character biographies (the character telling us about his her life and answering questions in character) and inner monologue (the character speaking aloud his her thoughts). I have also been working on Angels Fall in another context--in a workshop performance that I co-directed for a Kellogg Fellowship Forum on the future of education. I have a firm convic- tion that theatrical experiences are active learning experiences for both audiences and performers, and to extend those ex- periences, I have arranged a series of post- performance discussions in cooperation with the Creighton Center for Peace and Justice. Directing is always a learning ex- perience for me, as well. Each show teaches me something different. Perhaps Angels Fall has been a lesson for me, too, in coming to terms with the angel and fallen angel in myself. ' Angels Fair . Judson Jones, Amy Harmon, Brian play the main characters in the CU pro- Kokensparger, S.J., and Bill Van Deest duction of Angels Fall Zappy (Judson Jones) explains why he became a tennis player Vita and Don play a suspecting Zappy 26