In 1938, while Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning
show, “Our Town,” was playing on Broadway, another one of his shows opened.
That show was the “Merchant of Yonkers” which only ran for 39 performances and
then was canceled. This was a bit of a blow for Wilder as “Our Town” was
quickly becoming America’s favorite show on Broadway. (To this day, it is the
most performed play in high schools around the country.)
Both shows were written when Wilder was 41 and they were
very different plays. “Our Town” focuses on the fragility of life while the “Merchant
of Yonkers” was more of a romantic comedy. After the show closed, he set it aside
and went on to other plays, other essays and his teaching abilities. Wilder was
a 1920 graduate of Yale University with a skill of the written word.
It was almost twenty years later he re-wrote the “Merchant
of Venice” giving a larger voice to the matchmaker, Dolly Levi. He added her
monologue and worked on the other dialogues for the other cast members. It
opened back up on December 5, 1955. Later it was turned into the musical we all
grew up with, “Hello Dolly,” starring Carol Channing. “The Matchmaker” is a
completely delightful romantic comedy taking place in the 1880’s. It is still
being performed in schools today.
The Trine University Theatre will be sharing this
performance with the public April 11, 12, and 13. We can’t wait! In the
meantime, the wonderful cast including our Drama Department is hosting a
workshop for middle-school and high school students on Wednesday of this week.
Several weeks ago, one of my very favorite senior actors, Sean
Carpenter, came to me with an idea. He had been mulling it around a bit and
briefly mentioned it to me, but now he was serious and very interested about
hosting this workshop. I love listening to my students, and I love listening to
my cast members. Their ideas on the show and other events are something I do
take seriously. I gave him the green light to put together this workshop, and
he has done an outstanding job. We met with our dean, Darrin Wilcox, who loved
the idea and gave us the go ahead to make this happen. Ryan Long put together a
great flyer and we sent out packets to the local schools and other folks.
Unfortunately, spring break hit in the middle of our recruiting campaign, so I
thought another plug would help our local theatre kids.
Trine is not a university based on the arts, and yet, we
have the most outstanding students in our photography, music and theatre
programs. These kids work in all those departments because they absolutely love
it! The workshop we have put together showcases many facets of theatre that
would be of great interest to our local kids. On Wednesday, April 3rd,
from 4:00 to 8:00, we are welcoming these students to the Furth Center. They
will have the chance to tour the facility, spend time on the stage with our
actors in workshops on character development, blocking, costume design, tech
(sound and lighting) and Q and A with the actors. Supper is on us! Then they
will get a bare bones rehearsal following the supper. When I say bare bones, I
mean we are still not using many props and no staging or furniture has been
added. That all comes during our tech week starting on Sunday.
There is absolutely no charge for this event. We want your
kids, grandkids, and students to come and share their own love or curiosity of
theatre, especially at the University level. Students do need to register to
attend, however! If you send me an email, I will send you the form, and they can
bring it on Wednesday. Maybe there are young people who might be interested in theatre
but have never had much exposure to this art form. If that is the case, this is
also for them!
I really applaud my theatre group for putting this all
together. It is a lot of work, especially the week before we open, but they are
absolutely delighted to offer this workshop! I know I would have loved doing
this when I was in high school. Send me your questions, your interest and I
will send the information so that your young person can explore this
opportunity. Maybe someday, we will do this for all the curious grown-ups.
Until Wednesday, the stage awaits you!
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