ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 23, 1996 TAG: 9602230023
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JENNIFER MASON STAFF WRITER
Greg Justice is a Sam Shepard fan.
Shepard is "a playwright I have always had a closeness to," says Justice, director of Shepard's "True West," a Virginia Tech Theatre Arts Production that began this week.
Justice said that this play, Shepard's most popular, makes a strong statement about sibling rivalry and should appeal to a large audience.
It is a story that has many layers. On the surface it is about two brothers who compete to write a screenplay. At the heart, it is a story about one brother's desire to have what the other has; a modern retelling of Cain and Abel. At the same time, it's a myth of the old west and a contemporary treatment of dysfunctionalism in families. Although the play deals with serious subjects, it's humorous and entertaining.
A production committee of faculty and students decides which productions will be presented at Tech each semester; there are two or three "mainstages" and three or four workshops. "True West" is one of the mainstages.
"[We] try to do works that are very new and very classic ... to do a varied and wide-range season," Justice says.
The cast and crew have been rehearsing since Jan. 15, Monday through Friday for four hours each night. Co-directors Justice and Jack Dudley are the only faculty members working on the play. Students serve as designers, stage managers and at other posts.
Justice and Dudley have directed 13 plays together. Justice says that the appeal of directing comes in the collaboration with other people; the interaction helps him understand the other artforms - acting, staging and designing, for example.
Justice, an acting and movement teacher, has been directing for seven years and has never seen "True West" performed.
His production is built around the concept that "things are not really what they are." The set makes a strong statement about reality and the characters' perception of it.
With the play running for nearly two hours, with intermission, it is a "tour de force for the two main actors," Justice says. Aside from memorizing their lines and movements, they need to be mentally and physically prepared. They warm up their voices and relieve tension before they begin rehearsal because the play itself is emotionally demanding.
An actor's instruments are the body, brain and voice. The play's two main actors, James Dale and Todd Guill, say they spend a half an hour each night warming up these instruments for rehearsal.
"Whatever you bring in with you from the day you can use as tools," Guill says.
Dale tries to focus everything on the play, blocking out other things that go on such as schoolwork and classes. "This play demands 100 percent concentration," he says. "It is like a train: You have to be on it or you are lost."
Performances will be held in Squires Studio Theatre tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., and Tuesday through March 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from Squires Ticket office for $8 general admission and $6 for students and senior citizens.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Todd Guill (top) plays Lee, and James Dale is Austin inby CNBthe Virginia Tech Theatre Arts production of Sam Shepard's play,
"True West." color.