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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

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Wait
Until

W H AT W O U L D Y O U D O I F T H E R E R E A L LY W A S O N LY O N E W A Y O U T ?

D ar k
Show opens Thursday at CAST
I Oct. 13, 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 16 at 2:00 p.m. I Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for students and seniors, $8 for children 11 and under and $10 for groups of 10+. I Tickets are available at Columbia Arts and Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, and online via the Columbia Gorge Center for the Arts website, www.columbiaarts.com

By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News Editor

With Wait Until Dark, opening Thursday at CAST, you first have to get past Harry Roats get-up. The only way to describe it is sinister hipster. Your eyes are drawn to that costume, and yet you are repelled by it. Tom Butler (last seen in To Kill A Mockingbird) wears it well: the tight, slick gray leather coat, that too-small porkpie hat, those dark glasses, and the inscrutable menace you know it all conceals. What if recently-blinded Suzy Hendrix could see Harry Roats shiny veneer? To call him reptilian is an affront to snakes. We can see the terror that Suzy Hendrix must be feeling. She is played by Clara Cook, last seen in a full CAST dramatic production in The Laramie Project in 2010. The tricky part of playing Suzy is she had sight, which has probably been a saving grace, because you can still show emotion and reaction, you just cant really focus, and your tracking is behind where the body is moving, Cook said. Its a difficult role. Shes on stage the whole time other than first scene, said director Richard Parker. Ironically in the case of Suzy Hendrix, there is, of course, much more that meets the eye. Wait Until Dark all takes place in a basement, insulated and closed in: one blind woman against three sighted men in a lifeand-death struggle. The feeling is not exactly claustrophobic, but the story gives it a deliciously unnerving closed-in feel. The windows are themselves a key plot point, but by their presence they remind us there is an open outside that cannot be reached. The setting of this play lends itself to panic. Harry Roat is down there. Truly, it forces the question put forth far more effectively than other tales of suspense: what would you do if there really was only one way out? If you were Suzy Hendrix, what would you do? Wait Until Dark is a technically challenging play.

Beyond that of p o r traying a blind woman, according to Parker, the other challenge is to allow enough room to work but also feel like youre in a Greenwich Village apartment. To try to pull it forward, make it fullseeming, and have room for all of those people moving around on stage, moving around quickly and virtually in the dark. Its tricky and very technical, and its in the dark, Butler said. Judith Poage designed the set, which includes a working refrigerator, sink with running water, and double stair case. Most of the time I tell people to ignore stage directions, Parker said. Not in this play. You have to pay very specific attention to them. Its a really well-constructed script. It takes the audience where you want to go. Its such a puzzle, Parker said. I knew

that it was detailed, but what we noticed going in preparing for the play is that in every production Ive been able to find photos of, the set looked pretty much the same. We found out that if you start trying to move something to a different place on the set youd end up rewriting the play because of the things that have to happen and where people move. Tom Burns (Sgt. Carlino) noted that, unlike many plays, every prop on stage serves a purpose. Stage manager Kathy Williams said, Our task is get people on at the right time with the right props, and there are a lot of props. She is assisted by Adrian Chaton. The great part is the interaction between the characters, Cook said. Every time we have a rehearsal, new things come up. Cook projects well as a recently blinded woman still coming to terms with her permanent condition as well as pedestrian details such as how furniture is located, what goods she has in the refrigerator, and the prankster activities of the upstairs neighbor, a little girl named Gloria. Phoebe Wood, (age 6 and in her first theatrical part) gives a wry quality to the pesky neighbor who tries to be helpful but yields to impulses caused by her youth as well as her own troubles at home. Many plays or movies depict a group of villains working together. There is usually one sidekick, and the conflict between the ringleader and follower(s) develops late. But the brilliance of Wait Until Dark is the way it immediately creates that rift, and Harry Roats villainy gets darkly illuminated against the cowardice and contrition of the two rubes he associates himself with. Please see SHOW, Page B6

MENACE in the basement: Harry Roat (Tom Butler) and Mike Tallman (Will ThayerDaugherty) top, plot against Suzy Hendrix (Clara Cook). So does Sgt. Carlino (Tom Burns), at right. The phone is one of Suzys few links to the outside and husband, Sam (Galen McMahon) middle right. So is her precocious neighbor, Gloria (Phoebe Wood) above right.
Photos by Adam Lapierre

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Hood River News, Wednesday, October 12, 2011

SHOW
Continued from Page B1 T hey are Sgt. Carlino (Burns) and Mike Tallman (Will Thayer-Daugherty). Burns had the lead role in last springs All My Sons, and Thayer-Daugherty performed this summer in both To Kill A Mockingbird and Jesus Christ Superstar. Tallman and Carlino (we never learn their real names) possess doubts and even scruples Harry Roat will n e v e r feel, and so they make him seem all the more human for it. In this g o o d crookbad-crook scenario, little is simple. In a trio of crooks comprising the totality of a persona, Harry Roat is the darkest part of human nature. And thats the disturbing thing about Harry Roat, who stands stark in his own shadows: you know hes a human figure. You so want him to be a caricature, but he feels all too real. Playwright F rederick Knott even gives him the full name Harry Roat Jr. Hes somebodys boy; can he really be that bad? As Wait Until Dark ratchets up tension in act one, the presence of the villains and the growing realization of their plans serve

as two dramatic actions happening at once. They rub against each other, adding friction to the basic sense of dread you feel the moment Harry Roat enters the room. Even as Suzys caring, but cloddish, husband, Sam (Galen McMahon leaves the apartment early on, you know something bad is afoot. Essentially, the bad guys try to connive Suzy into giving up the heroin-filled doll she unwittingly possesses. They do so by playing on her deepest fears, and you feel a double set of emotions as you w a t c h them do RICHARD so: its the PARKER thrill of directs the witnessCAST ing the unproduction, folding of f alse Wait Until a story, the Dark. s h e e r meanness gradually dawning on you. But Roat and his two associates must communicate non-verbally as Suzy enters the room. You understand what they are up to and you also do not want to understand. Its a creepily entertaining construct, and its possible to almost feel sorry for men so desperate they will plant poisonous seeds of doubt in the mind of an innocent woman, as a precursor to far worse acts. The three baddies are a talky trio who, in early exposition, lay the groundwork for the twisty story within a story, a cynical ruse wrapped in an evil deceit.

Community Foundation offers grants

By JULIE RAEFIELD-GOBBO
News staff writer

Non-profit groups who bring improvements to the quality of life in the Gorge have a new opportunity for support. The Gorge Community Foundation announced this week that it is accepting grant applications from nonprofits located or operating in the Columbia River Gorge area for the Joan Burchell Fund. Created through a bequest after Ms. Burchells death in December 2008, the Burchell Fund will provide annual charitable grants where they are most needed. In this second funding cycle, the total amount available for granting is $9,600 and proposals will be accepted for any amount up to that total. Last year, six organizations received

Applicants: Submit proposals by Oct. 15. Complete grant guidelines are available for download from the Gorge Community Foundation website at www.gorgecf.org.
a total of $9,200 as follows: I Columbia Gorge Cat Rescue; $900 for feline care kits for foster homes I St. Francis House in Odell; $4,000 for rent assistance I Skamania County 4-H; $1,000 for preparation of Kids Care Bags I Helping Hands Against Violence; $2,000 for counseling services I Hood River County 4-H; $650 for After-School LEGO Robotics I Klickitat County 4-H Leaders Council; $650 for visioning retreat Burchell lived in the Parkdale area

for the last 20 years of her life. After retiring from her job at Readers Digest in Chappaqua, N.Y., she reportedly found the perfect fit in the community of Mount Hood. According to friends, Burchell was something of a contradiction in terms. On one hand, she lived frugally in a 420-square-foot cabin on 5 forested acres, yet was equally comfortable attending a variety of very proper cultural and educational events. Her spirit, humor, independence and interest in all things endeared her to many people, says Joyce Weseman, a longtime friend. Joan was a true example of living life on ones own terms. With the creation of an endowment fund with the Gorge Community Foundation, Burchell continues to offer a legacy of support to the community she loved.

Dahl wins Pink Ribbon sewing machine drawing

Hood River Sewing & Vacuum sponsored a free machine drawing to help raise awareness of breast cancer awareness, early detection methods and research. Partnering with Janome USA, Proud Sponsor of National Breat Cancer Foundation, Janome is donating a portion of all sales of the special edition Pink Ribbon branded models to the Susan G. Komen fund. October is national Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Unfortunately we all know folks locally who have been devastated by this disease and while there are many more survivors now than ever before, there is still much that needs to be done. Early detection, better treatments and continuing research for a cure are the goals of this ongoing campaign. Eileen Utroske, Owner. Hood River Sewing & Vacuum has Pink Ribbon models and the full Janome line of machines and accessories in stock.

Submitted photo

MIKE TALLMAN (Will ThayerDaugherty) has second thoughts about his involvement with the chameleonlike Harry Roat (Tom Butler).
Photo by Adam Lapierre

TERI DAHL of Hood River, right, accepts the Janome Pink Ribbon DC4030 machine from Eileen Utroske, Owner of Hood River Sewing & Vacuum.

Make It With Wool contest announced

The 64th Make It With Wool contest sponsored by the Oregon Sheep Growers Association will take place in Sunriver on Dec. 3 at the Growers convention. The contest promotes the beauty and versatility of wool fabrics and yar ns while encouraging personal creativity in sewing, knitting or crocheting with wool fabrics and yarns. Entries must be wool or wool blend garments made by the contestants. Age divisions open to all genders include Preteens, age 12 and under; Juniors 1316; Seniors, 17-24; & adults 25 and older. The winners of the Junior (13-16) and Senior (17-24) divisions will win an all expense paid trip to Scottsdale, Ariz., to compete in the National Contest at the American Sheep Growers Convention Jan. 25-28, 2012. Oregons Adult division winners garment will be sent to the National competition where the winner will be chosen to model at the National Convention Style Review. For information and entry forms on the 64th Make It With Wool contest, contact Oregon Director Maureen Krebs 69956 Highway 74, Ione OR 97843, or call 541-422-7548 or go to eatlamb@wildblue.net. The state and national web sites www.Ore gon MIWW.com and www.MakeItWithWool.com also have complete information.