THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Theater Preview
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
If you remember the song ``I'm My Own Grandpa,'' you might appreciate Jerome Brothers' lot in life - and death - these days.
In the Elizabeth City State University Players' production of ``Dearly Departed,'' he portrays father and daughter.
Can you see the headlines? Brothers is Father and Daughter.
The fun and confusion will be presented on campus at the Little Theatre on Wednesday through Friday and Sunday.
LaVonne L. McClain, a 21-year-old junior honors student, is directing the play a New York Post critic described as ``drop-dead funny.''
The plot concerns a group of colorful and dysfunctional eccentrics. When the patriarch of the Turpin family - that's Brothers - drops dead in scene one, his clan, including himself as his daughter, struggles to get him buried.
Was he a well-loved type of guy? Well, his widow wants to put ``Mean and Surly'' on his tombstone.
McClain, an Asheville native directing her first play since high school, speaks softly and has a mellow air about her that may be misleading.
``She blew my mind the other night,'' said producer Shawn Smith. ``The girl can scream.''
McClain enjoys directing, describing it as ``a stress reliever. It takes my mind off business.''
She is a business major. Drama, she said, is her avocation. Since her freshman year she has worked onstage or behind the scenes.
McClain was assistant director of ``A Raisin in the Sun'' and ``Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Was Enuff.'' She performed in such productions as ``The Crucible'' and the femme version of ``The Odd Couple.''
She is working with a cast of 16 in a play that Smith says ``is reminiscent of the humor in ``Greater Tuna.''
In other words - wacko.
The wackiness is supplied by a mix of stage veterans and newcomers. In the first category are Robin T. Gresham, who portrays the widow, and Shaunell McMillan, Bobby J. Lewis, Dorothy O. Wills, Tonya Turner, Khalid Baum, Damon Nollan, Billicia Hines and Amelia Pledger.
For the most part, they have been involved with more serious productions at ECSU.
Comedy is a pleasant change. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER PREVIEW
WHAT: The University Players, Elizabeth City State University,
presents ``Dearly Departed.''
WHEN: 8 p.m. Feb. 21, 22, 23, 25.
HERE: The Little Theatre at ECSU.
Admission is $5 for the public, $1.50 for ECSU faculty and staff,
$1 for ECSU students. Tickets are available at the door. For
information, call 335-3436.
by CNB