| Summary: | PHOTO BY RACHELTORGERSON SeniorVanessa Liming acts in a scene from "Cyrano" as Roxane, one her many roles in the production."Cyrano" runs through Feb. 19. ings will be at the lab theater in Frances Frazier Comstock Theatre. Tickets are available at the box office and are free with a student ID. Hoelscher sums up why students should see this clas-sic. "It has got everything," he said. "If you are looking for drama, there are dramatic scenes. There are fun fight scenes, comedic scenes and even musical scenes." THEATRE B PRESENTS Thur. - Sat. at 7:30pm $5 Student Thursdays! ASL February 10 701-729-8880 WWW.THEATREB.ORG Frozen by Bryony Lavery February 2 25 716 Main Ave, Fargo PULSE FRIDAY FEBRUARY 17, 20 I 1 6 Action, romance, comedy: Cyrano has it all BY LANA GYAMERA Pulse Contributor With three main stage acts to her name, senior Van-essa Liming finds her fourth and final stage show both exciting and challenging. Not only does she play Roxane, the female lead, she also plays multiple characters that are male. Starting on Valentine's Day through Feb. 19, Con-cordia's Theatre will be pre-senting an adaptation Of "Cyrano" in the lab theatre. This classic tale, with many movie and other adaptations, revolves around three friends: Cyrano, Roxane and Chris-tian. A French soldier and a poet, Cyrano is in love with Roxane, but his self-esteem issues as a result of his rather large nose cause him to keep his confession to himself. Christian, like Cyrano, is also in love with Roxane. He, on the other hand, is the total opposite of Cyrano, as fresh-man Brad Hoelscher, who plays him in this adaptation, describes. "Cyrano is smooth and charismatic, but Christian is the opposite," he said. "He is good looking but is not good at talking to women. He is afraid to talk to Roxane." With this at play, Cyrano uses Christian as a tool to court Roxane. Junior Kellen Summers, who plays the pro-tagonist Cyrano, summarizes this act with a quote from the play. "I will be your voice," he said. "You will be my lips." David Wintersteen, asso-ciate professor of communi-cation studies and theatre arts, directs this play in his 13 th year at Concordia. Wintersteen as-serts that this production is the first faculty-directed play to be held in the lab theater in about 15 years. He explains that the lab theater provides a thrust configuration instead of the usual proscenium stage that most theaters use. With the thrust configu-ration, the audience seating will surround or envelope the main stage instead of facing it. Although it is a different stage from stages his three actors are used to working with, he affirms that it is an "exciting opportunity," for them. "The lab is an intimate setting," Liming agreed. Wintersteen has been ac-credited by his actors as being not only a director but a help-ful coach, especially in a play where two of the three actors play multiple.roles. "David has been so help-ful and instructive. It's not a show without him," Summers said about Wintersteen's role in helping him get into char-acter. Likewise, Liming, who has to transform genders in the play, agreed with Winter-steen's helpfulness. "He gave me a lot of good advice about getting into character," she said. Something that the audi-ence should look forward to is the sword fighting in the play. Wintersteen describes it as "a dance routine with steel." Hoelscher, who is having a "fun experience trying to do choreography and acting at the same time," reveals that all the actors and Wintersteen came up with the choreography for the sword combat. This was possible as they have previous experience with stage combat. Summers stud-ied stage combat with his di-rector in high school, and he, along with Wintersteen, taught stage combat at the Trollwood Performing Arts School in Moorhead. But apart from sword fights, the audience can expect to go home with much more. The play has no big costume and makeup changes, and it also makes use of simple scenes and lighting. Winter-steen trusts that the audience "will be provoked to thought and changed during their time with the play." The audience will also be able to draw parallels from the play. "Everyone will find some-thing in the story that they can relate to," Liming said. "Cyrano" runs from Feb. 14 to Sat. Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 19 at 2p.m. All show- Frozen and thawed BY MATTHEW BARRETT Pulse Contributor "Frozen" is showing at Theatre B. Fitting, isn't it—the title? Fargo can seem like a fro-zen tundra at times, a desolate, isolated landscape that is not only physically cold, but has the power to strip us of social contact beyond the warm con-fines of an academic building. A smile is hard to detect be-tween the layers of a scarf; a wave is hard to muster when even the idea of exposing one's bare hand can be painful. This tundra is compa-rable to the arctic mind of the serial killer, according to "Frozen's" fictional character, Agnes, a forensic psychiatrist presenting her thesis in Eng-land. Devoid of emotion and warmth, remorse and guilt, it is this mental environment that allows Ralph, the play's serial-killer, to feel nothing. Written by Bryony Lav-ery and directed by Jennifer Thomas, "Frozen" is the story of a psychiatrist, a serial-killer, and a mother whose daughter was murdered. Ralph felt nothing when he killed his first victim, his second, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and the seventh— a 10-year old girl by the name of Rona Shirley, daughter of Nancy Shirley. Before Nancy learns of her daughter's death, she be-comes a public speaker, work-ing for an organization that brings together parents whose children have gone missing. After the police locate the body and her daughter's death is confirmed, Nancy becomes hardened, groping through the white haze for a way to cope. Meanwhile, forensic psy-chiatrist Agnes works with Ralph, applying her research on the mind of the serial-kill-er. Her thesis explores motives and the killer's moral compass, the essential question being: Are their actions evil or are they the result of illness? In order to explore this controversial question, Agnes' character goes back and forth between her examination of Ralph and the presentation of her findings. The division and seamless flow of these acts are facilitated through the posi-tioning of props and lighting. A table lies on the right side and an open space on the left. Agnes examines her pa-tient at the table, testing the findings of her research (jerky movements as the patient swivels head, the inability to look up without moving one's head, etc.). As Agnes assumes the role of presenter, the spot-light follows, shrouding Ralph and the table in darkness, the scene on pause. Throughout these scenes, we learn that Ralph, like many serial-killers, has suf-fered extreme abuse during childhood—neglect from his mother and abuse from his stepfather. Not only does this give the audience perspective, Lavery also presents an op-portunity for one to empa-thize with the killer. This again begs the question, are the se-rial- killer's actions forgivable? Agnes, the psychiatrist, feels her own sense of stag-nation as well. A colleague of hers dies just when they were becoming close. Her emotion-al bouts cause the audience to question her mental stabil-ity throughout the play. How-ever, Lavery's message is that we are all prone to becoming stuck, frozen with grief, anger and frustration at points in our lives. The question one mus t ask oneself in times of emo-tional distress is whether or not to remain in that state— frozen. Can one find a way to feel empathetic towards a se-rial killer? Is it possible to start over again after the death of a loved one? This message stays sus-pended in the audience's minds as they exit the venue. More so than a large stage production, Theatre B's small setting creates a sense of inti-macy with the actors on stage. Utilizing only a table with two chairs, a bench and a few other props, the inventiveness of the director, coupled with lighting and sound cues, create a very realistic experience. If one has any interest in theatre or is seeking a night of entertainment, "Frozen" will be sure to catch one's at-tention. Not to be considered light subject matter, the play's inventiveness and exploration into a rather hard-to-answer question create a production that is worth seeing.
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