THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240657
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: 102 lines
A NEW SEASON. A new director. And Frankenstein!
Innovation and creation (even down to recreating a famous ``creature'' of our pop culture) are in the air at the Generic Theater.
Steven Harders, the new director of the theater, makes his local directorial debut Friday with ``Playing With Fire (After Frankenstein).'' For the Generic it's hoped to be a rebirth, although Harders promises there will NOT be a scene in which the monster's creator screams ``It's ALIVE!'' and runs screaming through the laboratory.
Sitting in the empty theater after a long night of rehearsing, Harders, who looks even younger than his 27 years, outlined the tightrope he plans to walk in the seasons to come.
``I want to appeal to a wider audience, yet still stay within the niche for which the theater has become known,'' said Harders, who came to the Generic from the faculty of Virginia Commonwealth University. ``The thing to remember is that this theater is for the audiences. There would be a real danger in doing six unknown shows. At the same time, I want to preserve the sense of adventure that is a part of this theater. What attracted me about coming to the Generic was the plays. The plays they've done in the past have been new and adventurous. I need to keep that spirit, yet expand upon it.''
He's wary of theatrical trends like the ``avant-garde,'' ``theater of the ridiculous'' and the Ionesco-driven ``theater of the absurd.''
``The minute you mention `avant-garde,' it scares people,'' he said. ``They think it's going to be heavy. People take it too seriously. They think we're going to be waiting for Godot forever. Not true. We're going to have fun. But our plays won't always have a happy ending.''
The Generic has a three-pronged goal: (1) To produce contemporary works, (2) to interpret classic plays and (3) to do world premieres.
``Of the three, the one that's been neglected, a bit, is the classic aspect. I'm very fond of the classics, so I hope to revive some of them.''
The present season includes ``Minor Demons'' (Jan. 10), about a lawyer faced with a moral dilemma; ``Eleemosynary'' (Feb. 21), in which three generations of women collide during a homecoming; ``Oleanna'' (April 3), David Mamet's hit play in which a college student charges her professor with sexual harassment; and ``So Long On Lonely Street'' (May 23) a Southern gothic tale.
``The plays obviously fit our criterion in that no other local theater would be likely to undertake them,'' the new director said. He's looking forward to shaping his own '97-98 season, though, and is busily reading scripts. ``It will be a difficult decision. I'm looking for new, and untried, scripts and that means a real risk.''
Harders is a native of Des Moines, Iowa, where he says his first theatrical adventure was an audition for ``A Midsummer Night's Dream'' in which he was asked to leap across the stage.
``I was a little put off,'' he said. ``I was prepared with the lines. Leaping wasn't my speciality.'' He's been risk-taking ever since, though.
He received his undergraduate degree in Theater Arts from Teikyo Marycrest University in Davenport, Iowa, and a master's in directing from Virginia Commonwealth. He has worked in everything from the box office to the administrative office of theaters.
It is this varied experience which most attracted Elizabeth Burgess, president of the theater's board of directors, who said, ``He has hands-on theater experience, particularly directing, but including stage management, scene and lighting design and acting. He is solidly committed to our unique brand of theater and will bring new energy and enthusiasm to the Generic.''
Harders feels that he is ``an actor's director'' and encourages interchange between actors and the director. ``A show should reflect the director's concept but I welcome input from the actors.''
He has initiated a new ``sharing system'' in which actors will be paid in relation to what they do in each show. Actors and technicians will get a certain amount of shares. The monetary value of the shares will depend upon the box-office receipts.
First performed at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis in 1989, ``Playing With Fire (After Frankenstein)'' is set in both the present and the past as Dr. Victor Frankensein (played by Jay Lockamy) meets the creature (played by Stanley Baranowski) at the North Pole. They look backward on their existence.
For ``After Frankenstein,'' he promises smoke and lighting effects but cautions, ``it won't be a rock show. Our budget, to say the least, is limited but this show is very visual.
``It's a play about responsibility. The subtext is that we have to be responsible for what we create. Victor Frankenstein doesn't want to be responsible for the creature, yet he created it. In an age of newly created technology, there's something to think about here. Have we created monsters all around us? Will we be responsible for them?'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot
Steven Harders, left, makes his local directorial debut with
``Playing With Fire.'' Stan Baranowski, in background, is the
``creature.''
Graphic
ON STAGE
What: ``Playing With Fire (After Frankenstein)'' by Barbara
Field
Where: Generic Theater, 912 W. 21st St., Norfolk
Who: Directed by Steven Harders, featuring Jay Lockamy, Scott
Rollins, Stanley Baranowski, Lesa Azimi, Sean O'Reilly and Frank
McCaffery
When: Opening Friday, continuing through Nov. 17, Thursdays,
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $12 Fridays and Saturdays, $10 Thursdays and Sundays.
Student and senior discounts available
Call: 441-2160 by CNB