Morehead State University - Raconteur Yearbook (Morehead, KY)

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GREATER TUNA stars Edward Figgins and Greg Leslie ham it up for the audience. don. This play won a Tony award and eight Oscar nominations in its rite. The story re- counts the life of John Merrick tBob Staf- fordt who was grossly deformed in figure. However, Merrickis beautiful spirit made his predicament even more tragic. As on Broadway, Stafford wore no make-up in his role. The play relied only on background slides and the actors mannerisms to por- tray Merrick's bodily deformities. Dr. Frederick Treves Ueffrey CaswelD saved Merrick from carnival side shows only to realize in the end that it may have been the wrong choice. THE FANTASTICKS, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, ran in New York for more than 26 years. The story focused on two lovers, Luisa and Matt tJulie Bigham and Tom Staffordt who are forced to meet secretly because of their feuding fathers tEdward Figgins and Ralph WalD. In actuality, the whole feud was a bogus psychological game played by the fathers who really wanted the twosome to i , A , , marry. In order to progress with the mar- 8mm ? comb , , withicmgr . to make 'The Fantastlcks one ' riage, the two fathers staged a phony rape of me many successful plays 0er in hoped that Matt would be the hero. the season i y , They hire El Gallo tTerry Caint along with two others tTracey Dunn and Chris Mar- shalD to form the mock battle with Matt. They allow Matt to win Luisa. At the realization of their fathers plot, the two part and each ventures on his own. After both experience a different life, they even- tually reunite. A NIGHT OF ORIGINAL WORKS was three short plays written by members of the MSU theatre troupe.

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VOICES IN THE RAIN drew on actor's true emotions. Laughter to Tears Laughter to Tears JOHN FLAVELL he 1985-86 theatre season a MSU featured a comedy, . musical, a Tony award winning drama, and a collec tion of short plays by Edwar Albee. Also, there was a col lection of plays written and directed by MS theatre students and implemented by Dr Travis Lockhart, theatre coordinator. The season opened with GREATE' TUNA, a satirical comedy about the politica and moral discrepancies of a fictitious smal town in Texas. The play revolves around . day in the lives of the citizens of Tuna Texas. This town consists of conservativ. citizens participating in activities rangin from book-burning to the Ku Klux Klan. GREATER TUNA ran seven nights, one night as a special performance during homecoming activities, in the Kibbey Theatre. THREE BY ALBEE was the second serie of plays to be performed. Written by Ed ward Albee, these plays dealt with the ver abstract and proved challenging to unders- tand. Each was directed by a different stu- dent director. The first, HSandbox, centered around a family's day at the beach. The characters Mommy and Daddy, pro- trayed by Kelli D. Whitt Callahan and Doug Salisbury, deposit Grandma in a sandbox while they talk of nonsense. Grandma, por- trayed by Antoinette C. Marshall, tells the audience her life story while a beach bum flexes his muscles in the background. Over-bearing Mommy and wimpy Daddy then announce that it is Htime for Grand- ma. She then buries herself in the sandbox while the beach bum acts as the angel of death. iiZoo Story, which is the longest of Albeeis creations, is a story about two men - Jerry and Peter - engaged in a conver- sation on a park bench one Sunday after- noon. Jerry tTom Staffordi is crazy and wants to tell Peter about his trip to the zoo. Jerryis mind wanders, however, and he winds up telling Peter tJeffrey C. Caswelli his life story. Peter is unattentive and quite irritated by Jerry's manner. In the end, Jerry picks a fight with Peter and Peter is forced to stab Jerry. HAmerican Dream was the last of the Albee stories. Once again, Mommy, Daddy and Grandma were featured. Kelli Callahan portrayed Mommy and Edward Figgins played Daddy. The feisty Grandma was played by Angela Portman. Tara Lail played the seductive Mrs. Barker and David Souder played the American Dream. This play was perhaps the most difficult to understand. The actors and actresses were superb in their presentation of the American dream gone sour. THE ELEPHANT MAN, written by Ber- nard Pomerance, was set in Victorian Lon-

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MAKE-UP is an impor- tant part of any costume. GREATER TUNA provid: ed students with an op- portunity to work with makemp in order to add character to each actor. TONY. award winner. THE ELEPHANT MAN. recounts the life of John Merrick. who was por- trayed by Bob Strafford. Stafford's mannerism was responsible for per. traying Merricks body deformities since no makemp was used. . John Flnve