THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605150132
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ERIC FEBER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
She once sold concessions for the Generic Theater. Tonight she'll dispense Shakespearean sweets from its stage.
Carly Nicole Van Orman, the 17-year-old daughter of Adele Van Orman and Barry Van Orman, will be one of the five featured players in the Generic Theater's final production of its 1995-96 season, ``Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet),'' which makes its premiere tonight.
When Van Orman was 13 years old, she sold concessions for the Generic Theater. She also was a stage director and a long-time supporter and subscriber.
Now she'll support the Norfolk-based independent nonprofit professional theater from the stage in the role of Juliet in this Shakespearean spoof written by Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald.
``The production is more comedy than anything else,'' the Western Branch High School senior said. ``She incorporates Shakespeare's words in the play, mostly in verse. I've only done Shakespeare in various drama workshops, so this will be interesting for me. You have to be very particular in a familiar role like this. If you mess up, people will know. His words are so famous, everybody knows them. The lines we speak on stage are that familiar.''
The play involves Constance Ledbelly, a college professor who's trying to make her mark in the academic world. She's attempting to decipher a coded manuscript she believes is the lost source for both ``Othello'' and ``Romeo and Juliet.''
In looking at the plays, Ledbelly is convinced that they were comedies before the Bard omitted the character of the Fool from both. Finally, she finds herself transported into the two plays as the long-lost Fool. The familiar characters from both plays are then thrown into confusion as they find themselves in unfamiliar, and oftentimes, comedic situations.
Van Orman and cast have been in rehearsals for about two months.
She said the production features area stage veterans including Port Folio magazine Best Actress winner Lesa Azimi as Ledbelly and veteran actor Bob Scott as Iago and Romeo.
Van Orman, who's been acting since she was an 11-year-old with the Hurrah Players, said her Generic Theater role was something she didn't plan.
``I wasn't even going to go to the audition,'' she said. ``But a friend was on her way so I decided to accompany her. I only found out about the auditions a half-hour before the start. I went with Lori Blackmon, a friend from Princess Anne High school, whom I met at the Governor's Magnet School.''
The acting experience both earned at the Governor's school must have been enough. Van Orman landed the role of Juliet and Blackmon got the role of Desdemona.
``I've always loved acting,'' she said. ``I got a good start with the Hurrah Players. Then I started doing community theaters.''
She played Dorothy in the Portsmouth Little Theatre's version of ``The Wizard of Oz'' and appeared in the Tidewater Dinner Theater's production of ``Annie Get Your Gun.''
Van Orman recently won a $200 grant for drama from the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission's 1995/96 Arts Education grants.
``We're working with a small cast,'' she said. ``But it's a really good cast. I'm working with some fine veteran actors. These people are really talented. Brad Breckenridge is from Norfolk State University; Lesa Azimi is a teacher at the Beach; and Bob Scott is the `old guy.' He plays Romeo and and Iago and he's incredible. I've learned a lot from these veterans. I've learned lot about good comic timing. It's something I need to work on.''
Van Orman said rehearsals, run by veteran director Bob Nelson, have been good natured chaotic affairs.
``But everything's coming together,'' she said. ``Bob (Nelson) taught at the Governor's School. He's very easy-going, not an intimidating type at all. But he sure gets the job done. He's great to work with. He's very receptive and helpful and loves to work with the actors. He's very patient and knows what he's looking for in each scene.''
Besides her studies and the time spent with the Governor's School, Van Orman is the Western Branch High School senior class historian and is on the school's debate and forensics teams. She was a member of the student congress, the Model United Nations and the Governor's Magnet School summer program.
She also found time to participate in the Miss Western Branch Pageant and in the recent Miss Chesapeake Pageant, where she won the title of Miss Congeniality.
A couple of years ago, Van Orman landed a job in the CBS made-for-television movie ``Scattered Dreams,'' which was filmed in Charlotte, N.C.
The movie featured Tyne Daly as a mother who had her children taken away and placed in an orphanage. Van Orman played one of the kids at the orphanage who befriended one of Daly's kids, played by the then unknown Alicia Silverstone.
``It was enough to make me eligible for the Screen Actor's Guild,'' she said. ``It wasn't a major role but an important one. I was involved in two days of filming.''
Van Orman said Silverstone, who gained recent fame with the hit film ``Clueless,'' had just completed the B-movie, ``The Crush.''
``She was really nice to me,'' she said. ``I also got to meet Tyne Daly. She was very nice, too. The whole experience was great. I felt lucky to be able to work with these people.''
Van Orman has done other television, including commercials for the Family Channel and playing a bad kid in a television movie made at Regent University.
``I always seem to play the bad kid or the troubled child, but I'm the least troubled kid I can think of,'' she said.
What ever happened to that Regent film?
``The movie was released only on Russian television,'' she said with a laugh. ``It was dubbed in Russian and put on their late night TV.''
Upon graduation from Western Branch, Van Orman plans to attend George Mason University, where she will major in international relations with a double major in drama. ILLUSTRATION: Carly Nicole Van Orman
Juliet in Generic Theater production
What: ``Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet),'' by Ann-Marie
MacDonald.
Who: The Generic Theater.
Where: Theater playhouse, 912 W. 21st St., Norfolk.
When: Opens tonight at 8 p.m. Other shows are Saturday at 8 p.m.
and Sunday at 2 p.m. With additional shows May 23-25, May 30-31 and
June 1 at 8 p.m. And 2 p.m. matinees on June 2 and 9.
Cost: Tickets are $8 for Thursday and Sunday performances or $10
for Saturday and Sunday shows. Student and senior discounts are
available on Thursday and Sunday only.
Call: For ticket reservations, call the box office at 441-2160.
Note: On Sunday, May 26, the Generic Theater, Taphouse Grill and
Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia will combine for a fund-raising
event. On that date the theater will present a 6 p.m. performance.
After the show, patrons are invited to join the cast at the Taphouse
Grill, 931 W. 21st St., for a reception. Ticket donations are $16.
Call 624-1333 or 491-8230.
by CNB