Creighton University - Bluejay Yearbook (Omaha, NE)

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joke on the un- Father Dougherty uses his pious charm in an attempt to convince Don to practice medicine 27

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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

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One Acts By Andrew Arganbright The Drapes Come, The Girl From Council Bluffs and Ludlow Fair were directed by Creighton theater students in the One- Act Play Festival. The Drapes Come, directed by Kent Anderson, discussed the changing role of women in society. Julie Griffin played the mother, Mrs. Fiers, and Sarah Wallsmith played the daughter, Barbara. Griffin portrayed a sheltered mother who had devoted her whole life to the duties of the home, while Wallsmith tried to convince her mother of the world out- side the boundaries of the house. Mixed in were scenes of how her mother became an impassionate machine who exhibited all the characteristics of Barbara ' s super mom. The second play, The Girl from Council Bluffs, was directed by Brian Kokensparger, S.J. It is a modern day translation of Menander ' s The In-Laws which was written in 300 B.C. The actors, James Hamman, Bob Juergens, David Kail and John Ray, presented a story which dealt with an il- legitimate birth, a father-son conflict and marriage of old money to new money, issues topical both in 300 B.C. and 1987. The final play, directed by Lori Polak, The Ludlow Fair, detailed the strug- gles of two female roommates in their mid-20s. Rachel, played by Lisa Huntley, had just ended her sixth relationship in nine months. The relationship ended after she turned the boyfriend into the police for robbing her and her roommate of $465. Rachel continuously talked of her misfortunes to her roommate, Agnes, played by Stacey Badura. Unlike Rachel, Agnes was unable to form a relationship. Agnes fantasized about her planned lunch date with her boss wimpish son whom she disliked. Each was too concerned with her own problem to listen and help the other. Agnes and Rachel desperately wanted a friend to talk to. A classic struggle: father vs. son Ag es (Stacey Badura) thinks about her date with her boss ' son