Undergrads present nuns, guns and tunes

Kayla Webley
2004-03-03
The Daily

The characters in The House of Blue Leaves are much like the actors who portray them -- they are all looking for the spotlight.

Tonight marks the opening night of the UW School of Drama's presentation of the Tony Award-winning play, The House of Blue Leaves.

The play, written by dramatist John Guare, is a story told by a cast of unusual characters, played exclusively by UW undergraduates, according to director Valerie Curtis-Newton.

The play is about Artie Shaughnessy, who is trapped by both his ambitions and his own choices.

"The character of Artie is a zookeeper whose house has become his own private zoo with all these exotic characters who all want one thing, which is to be famous," Curtis-Newton said.

Michael Place, who plays Artie, agrees.

"Artie hasn't really done a whole lot with his life; when he was 25 he had a bright future, he had a new wife who he loved, good friends and his music," said Place. "He might have really gone somewhere with it, but something kind of never happened, his life has remained stagnant for 20 years," he said.

"He ends up losing everything that makes him happy, so at this point he is just trying to search for happiness again, which he thinks would come about if he became famous."

The play, through its comedy, points a finger at some current fixations within society that were, according to Curtis-Newton, created by reality TV.

"Everybody wants to be on television, everyone wants their shot at being famous and they humiliate themselves to get there, eating maggots to win a lot of money to be rich, like that is what will ultimately make them happy, or giving up all rights to privacy to buy your fame," she said. "I just felt like it was such a resonant play for right now."

This production is the only of the season that is fully produced by and funded for the undergraduate program.

"[This play] is important because it is one of the productions that features undergraduates -- it is all undergraduate talent -- and I think it is important for the University community to come out and support them in their work," said Curtis-Newton.

According to Place, most productions are geared toward the graduate level, so this play, nicknamed "The B.A. Show," is an incredible opportunity for the actors.

"Initially, when the B.A. auditions come around, all the undergraduates want to be a part of it so we are very fortunate to be in the script to begin with."

According to Curtis-Newton, there are many reasons to come out and see the play.

"It's funny, it makes a point, it is not super-heavy, it has a lot of big ideas in it, it's not 19 hours long and everybody will get it," she said. "You won't come out depressed. After all winter with not much sun, people are looking for things that won't depress them, and this is one of those things."

The play is about two hours long.

The House Of Blue Leaves, presented at the Playhouse Theatre, runs until March 14. This production is the 214th play in the drama school's 38th season.