Northwestern University - Syllabus Yearbook (Evanston, IL)

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• w CHrfRL€Y9 RGVJIGW The Northwestern Athletic Department has a reputation for producing some great tragedies. In fact, it is possible that the 1974-75 season is the most tragic yet. There were times when the two latest plays, Pal Johnny, and The Winter of Discontent, were so much like their predecessors, that audiences might have thought they were watching productions from the past two seasons. Both shows were about losers, as are most of the Athletic Department produc- tions these days. Their common theme was the hopelessness of trying to make a winner out of a loser at a semi-prestigious midwestern university. It takes time, repeated John Pont, during the first act of Pal Johnny. Yet his teams got worse instead of better. The theme was the same old tired one which has been batted around the Northwestern Athletic Department stage for the last three years. The last time the Northwestern Athletic Department stray- ed from its meat and potatoes produc- tions was fall of 1971 when the bouncy musical Maurie and His Friends, starring quarterback Marie Daigneau and Alex Agase as the coach, depicted a winning football team which sang and danced its way into second place in the Big Ten with a 7-4 record. Although the theme was redundant, both Pal Johnny and The Winter of Discontent were perceptive pictures of what losing can do to men as they attempt to combat its degrading affects on their careers. Pont was brilliant as the frenzied paranoid, Jeckyl and Hyde football coach of ' ' Pal Johnny who hadn ' t had a winning team in five years. Tex Winter surpassed Pont ' s performance in the leading role of The Winter of Discon- tent, the story of a once great coach humiliated by his team ' s clumsy defeats. Pal Johnny began with charming John Pont, despite his five year losing streak, trying to convince everyone that his team would be a winner. The next week his team, the Wildcats, went out and lost its first game 41-7. I was surprised at our inefficiency, said the Wildcat quarterback, played by Mitch Anderson. It is one of the many lines which provoked more laughter than sym- pathy for the characters. Anderson delivered a strong perfor- mance as a one-time great quarterback, twice Big Ten passing leader, whose career went down the drain during his senior vear. Anderson ' s characterization of an athlete down on luck was good, but it fell short of making him a tragic hero. Anderson was bitter at the end of the play, never understanding why things happened the way they did in his team ' s 3-8 season. Don ' t ask me what hap- pened, I don ' t want to talk about it, the Quarterback said at the end of the play. One of the strength ' s of Pal Johnny was the brilliant performances of four actors in minor roles. Paul Hiemenz, Larry Lilja, Carl and Joe Patrnchak stand out in the huge cast of over 100 actors, as seniors who couldn ' t cope with the agony of defeat anymore. They performed well in the action sequences and were especially good in the post game locker room. Carl Patrnchak held the crowd in the palm of his hand when he delivered his soliloquy after the Wildcats lost the final home of the four seniors ' careers. I just hope the younger guys see this, shouted Carl Patrnchak as he stripped the pads off his battered body. I just hope they learn from this and do something about it. We seniors won ' t be around, I know, but well, I just hope they see this and try to turn it around. It hurts to have never played on a winner. While the audience was moved by the tragic plight of Carl Patrnchak, his twin brother Joe, Hiemenz, Lilja, and other players, no one could really feel sorry ior Pont. The tragic situation of some of the Wildcats was clearly demonstrated, but the audience came away at the end of Pal Johnny feeling somehow that Pont deserved his fate. After Pont ' s team ' s losses began to pile up, (his team lost its first three games by a total score of 139-17) , he degenerated into a raving maniac, who desperately tried to maintain a calm exterior to the outside world. He screamed at his players on the sidelines, then soft peddled his actions after the game. He snarled his answers to repor- ter ' s post-game questions on Saturday, but smiled optimism by Wednesday. While Pont ' s characterization was fas- cinating, it lacked depth. No motivation for his actions was ever given. What he is really like never surfaced in the play. If there was a weakness in Pal Johnny, this was it. And while it was fascinating to watch Pont ' s antics, the question remains: what makes Johnny run? The depth of character was never a problem in The Winter of Discontent , as Tex Winter turned in a virtuoso performance as a once great coach mired in a losing environment. Winter played « basketball coach recently hired by the Wildcats to rejuve- nate their dismal program. He came with a fantastic success record as a college coach, having had only one losing season in his 20 year career. In the first scene it was revealed that Winter ' s first year with 148