Play shows endurance of spirit
By LAURA KELLY
Scene Writer
"I was born in a small town, and I live in a small town … Prob'ly die in a small town, that's prob'ly where they'll bury me."
Washington Hall lab theatre's newest production, "Between Daylight and Boonville," opens with the sounds of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Small Town." The song's simple lyrics are a fitting beginning for the drama about life in a trailer park in southern Indiana's strip mining country.
Showing tonight and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the lab theater, "Between Daylight and Boonville" tells the stories of three women — Carla (Elizabeth Van Westen), Marlene (Rose Cassey) and Lorette (Kathy Koch) — all wives of poor, itinerant coal miners. Seated on a simple stage between the two screen doors of their trailers, the three friends struggle to understand the heartaches and disappointments life has thrown their way. While each woman copes differently with her despairs and frustrations, the three are ultimately brought together by a mining accident that irrevocably changes their lives.
Directed by senior Christina Kolski, a psychology and film, television and theater (FTT) major, "Between Daylight and Boonville" is one of the earliest and most successful plays by Matt Williams, the creator of TV sitcoms "Roseanne" and "Home Improvement." In keeping with Williams's comic traditions, the show's irrepressible humor found in dark moments is one of its highlights.
"[It's] a play that makes you laugh and cry at the same time," Kolski said.
The laughing games of Marlene's and Carla's children and the antics of Cyril (John Schmiederer), a lovable prankster, add much comic relief and keep the action flowing. Another source of dark humor is the spiteful feuding between hot-tempered Carla and the town flirt, Wanda (Colleen Slusser).
Roles like Carla's and Wanda's attracted Kolski to choose "Between Daylight and Boonville" for her FTT Advanced Directing Project back in August. "I liked this show because it has a lot of strong female leads, which is rare," she said. "It is a great opportunity for women to come out and really show their talents."
Her enthusiasm for the play reveals her personal connection: "I chose this show because I was in it when I was 7 years old, as one of the play's three children."
Kolski's previous acting and directing experience is evident in the polished, professional performances of her actors. The leads are impeccably cast and well rehearsed, while the show's three children set an eager and light-hearted contrast to their mothers' distresses and torments.
The cast creates a world of believable characters, centered on Carla, a young wife torn between the only life she knows and a restless desire for something more, something greater. Certainly any college student tormented by the nagging questions of what to do with one's life can sympathize with Carla's longings: "I could be good at something, if I knew what it was, if I could just find it … But there's nothing here."
In contrast with the desolation found in the trailer court, "Between Daylight and Boonville" is blessed with a well-written script and a talented cast. When asked about the most satisfying aspect of directing her first full production, a two-hour show, Kolski replied, "My favorite part of directing is watching the whole process unfold from beginning to end. A lot of actors get the rush of opening night and the rush of performances, but I really love the day-to-day stuff, even rehearsals! It is an amazing rush when you are probing an actor to convey a certain emotion and they finally get it. It's a very big high for me."
It is clear Kolski has succeeded in reaching her actors. From the opening scene, the audience easily slips into the characters' small world of complicated relationships lightened by easy-going banter. As the drama progresses, the simple life of this small town becomes anything but simple, entangled with affairs and secrets and shattered dreams.
"[`Between Daylight and Boonville' is] a play about life, how people deal with stressful times and traumatic events," Kolski said.
For the audiences lucky enough to experience this sliver of Americana this weekend, this treasure of a production will leave them with a deeper appreciation of human resiliency and the strength of hope.
All Scene Stories for Friday, March 3, 2000
