By TANNER MAWHIRTER
Tiger Media Network
The Fort Hays State University Department of Theatre’s fall production of Antigone, pronounced An-tih-guh-nee, will be performed this weekend in Malloy Hall. It is based on Sophocles’s ancient Greek play.
To prepare for the play, the stage crew and actors have been rehearsing since the semester started, putting in an immense amount of effort to give us the best performance possible.
Gordon Schroeder, a member of the chorus and messenger in the cast, said the rehearsal process helped prepare everyone for this weekend’s shows.
“It kind of depends on where we’re at, so when we start, it’s just read-through. We read through it once, and then Catherine, our director, makes us read through it again, especially with a big show like this with long monologues,” he said. “We take time to see what kind of tactics each character is using in each monologue. And after a while we transition to full runs like what we’re doing now.”
The play is building excitement not only for the audience who want to watch the performance but also for the performers. Schroeder said being on stage and acting is his favorite part of being involved with plays.
“This is sort of a simple answer, but the acting part, it’s fun to play a role and say things,” he said. “One of the more fun things is when Catherine gives you advice that doesn’t make sense until later on; it’s the A-ha moment is a big fun part, I would say.”
Chorus member and guard Dawson Dickerson said he owes his parents for getting him involved in acting.
“It all started junior year of high school with a little push from my parents. For me, I didn’t start off doing any lead role or anything, I was actually more of a background character,” he said. “Most actors don’t start off with lead roles anyway. But with this play I have not one but two roles, which is a brand-new experience to me.”
Some of the inspiration actors need comes from other actors they look up to; Dickerson offers such advice to any new actor who might be battling stage fright.
“If you want to be an actor, you have to put your best foot forward and make sure to always follow instructions, and also learn to have fun with it,” he said.
On the technical side of the play, Blaine McCarthy explains what he does as part of the stage crew that keeps the show literally running.
“All the tech people really do the same stuff; we built the set, which was a lot of work. It’s very difficult to make circles out of wood. We had a lot of guys come in for painting; the set looks beautiful,” he said. “I don’t know how they did it, I can’t paint. Most days there’s like four of us here. We work pretty diligently to get the most work we can done, but it’s a slow process.”
Antigone will be performed at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and at 2:30 on Sunday. Additional show and ticket information can be found here.