Bob Hart, senior theater major, runs through his lines Tuesday evening at play practice in Fredrickson Theater. ESU will present “Laundry and Bourbon” and “Lone Star” Sept. 22-26 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 27 at 2 p.m. JENNIFER BALDWIN/THE BULLETIN

This year the theatre department at Emporia State scheduled a diverse season that will feature five very different productions.
“We have selected a variety of kinds of stories and plays that each offer a different kind of substance for the audience,” said Theresa Mitchell, associate professor of theatre arts and director of “The Diviners,” a play that will premier in February. “Going to a theater with a live performance has another sense of energy with the performers on stage; sometimes the show can provide insight about our culture, society or community.”
Opening the season is a compilation of two one act plays about the return of a Vietnam soldier to his home town in Texas; “Laundry and Bourbon and Lone Star,” which will show from Sept. 22-27. “Laundry and Bourbon” is set in the afternoon and will show first. It will be followed by “Lone Star,” which is set later that same evening.

Brianne Simon, senior theater major, who will portray Elizabeth in “Laundry and Bourbon,” distinguishes the differences between the styles of a full-length play and two consecutive one acts.
“There’s not necessarily that exact point of connection that you have with the continuity of a full length play since these are two one acts,” she said. “So there’s some making connections between what’s said in ‘Lone Star’ and what’s said in ‘Laundry and Bourbon,’ and having to invent some of those connections. There is a little bit more freedom to create what happened and what’s going to happen. I don’t know that I like it any more or less, it’s just something new to experiment with.”
Gabe Moyer, senior theater education major, will make his debut as a main stage director in ‘Lone Star,’ the second of the one acts.
“I’m hoping that students are able to be involved and engaged in the show,” Moyer said. “Right from the get-go of ‘Lone Star,’ he comes out drunk and gets progressively more drunk. It’s funny to see the choices that they make. College students can relate because just about everyone in college is getting drunk. I think every student who goes to see ‘Lone Star’ will be rolling out of their seat laughing.”
Coupled with comedy, another element that the pair of plays possesses is its many parallels to the modern setting.
“Even though its set in an earlier time period, we think thematically it relates to something that is going on in our own time, but it’s also very funny,” said Jim Bartruff, director of theater. “It’s really an interesting pair of plays, and they are interrelated and are written to be performed in a single production.”
Bartruff will direct the second production of this semester, “The Rocky Horror Show,” which will show from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 for Homecoming.
“It’s not your traditional musical comedy, it’s very definitely something else,” Bartruff said. “I think (the audience is) going to discover that it is one wild, outlandish musical.”

“The Rocky Horror Show” is a spoof of science-fiction horror movies from the 1960s, and the villain of the story is a transvestite named Dr. Frank N. Furter, Bartruff said.

“Ultimately, he seduces just about everybody in the household before the end,” Bartruff said. “I think the most important thing to know about ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ is that it’s meant to confront our sort of Victorian views of human relationships and sexuality. We want people to know that coming in because some people may be very uncomfortable with the subject matter of this play.”

Bartruff described the climax of the play where the entire cast is in fishnet hose and high-heeled shoes.

“Interestingly, I don’t think that the material is nearly as startling today as it might of been 30 years ago when it was first done, and I think the reason for that is because we see a lot worse on television today,” he said.
Contrasting with the first two productions, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” features a style of acting that is unfamiliar to many of the students involved.

In the play, the actors will read their scripts from music stands to mimic a radio show. The play also encompasses themes of the Christmas season, and will run Dec. 2-5.
“Our final production this semester, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ is really an ideal sort of a production for the season and the fact that we’re doing it as a radio show gives us an opportunity to show three very different ways of doing plays in a single semester,” Bartruff said.
The theater season will continue after winter break with auditions for the spring plays during the first few weeks of the semester.

“The Diviners” will be preformed in February followed by “Hedda Gabler,” which will conclude the season in May. Any students interested in helping out with the productions or auditioning should contact the theatre department.

Sarah Shaw/The Bulletin

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