Memphis State University - DeSoto Yearbook (Memphis, TN)

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' «» Sr. MSU Main Stage brings alive Tennessee William ' s ight of the Iguana The MSU Theatre Department made a searing entrance into its 1984-85 season with Tennessee Williams ' steamy drama, The Night of the Iguana. The story, which takes place in a run-down Mexican hotel in 1940, involves the audience by revealing several agonizing secrets about the unlikely group presently residing there. Although most of the characters confront some personal changes, the plot focuses on the disturbed Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon and the relationships in his life. Shannon, a man of dubious past and present, appears torn between physical desire and spiritual love, two human traits not easily reconciled. His fragile soul, engaged in a search for life without complications, finally reaches a breaking point. The catalyst for this potential explosion is the choice Shannon must make between his simple physical love ▼ The world ' s oldest living and practicing poet, Jonathan Coffin, (Dr. Stephen Malin) pens his final work at the Casa del Verde. By Sondra Lewis hate relationship with Maxine Faulk, mistress of the hotel, and the more complicated pursuit of spiritual love with Hannah Jelkes, a traveling innocent. Shannon ' s eventual decision, as well as the decisions of those around him, brings the play to its sadly empty close, leaving the audience drained. Joanna Helming ' s direction of this emotionally charged Main Stage pro- duction was not the only backstage stand- out. Jan Chambers, beginning her second year with the Theatre Department, gave the production a set design that provided a completely realistic background. Also notable were Dr. Douglas Koertge ' s costume designs. Koertge and Chambers ' work, when paired with fine stage per- formances, gave this opening production more than enough power to get the season off the ground. J k. ▼ Every year, like clockwork, Shannon comes to the ramshackle inn to rid himself of his spook. T Jack Latta (Clif Gordon) minces no words when reporting that Shannon, a defrocked preacher, has been fired from his job as a tour guide. J-S. Vanzandc 68 Student Life

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the most captivating college musical in Memphis in years J.S. Vanzandt ▲ Wouldn ' t It Be Loverly to live some- where other than Tottenham Court Road? Elegance and aristocracy are Eliza ' s for an evening, as she dupes the Queen of Transylvania (Wren Kennedy) into believ- ing she is a high-born lady. »!k J.S. Vanzandt My fair Lady jfifli

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Now Shannon is going to go down there with his machete and cut the damn lizard loose so it can run back to its bushes because God won ' t do it and we are going to play God here. •S Van Charlotte Goodall (Kasi Sanders) and Shannon tour the seamy side of Mexico, and Shannon encounters the wrath of the girl ' s chaperone. T A party of vacationing Nazis (Ken Parnell, Mary Tarochione, John Dye and Anna Louise Sanborn) ridicule the dis- illusioned and broken T. Lawrence Shannon (Jeff Bailey). J.S. Vanzandt Night Of The Iguana