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The Battalion
LIFESTYLES
Theater drives down uneven road
By RUDY CORDOVA JR.
From New York to Hollywood,
“Driving Miss Daisy” has left its tire
marks on the stage and screen. 7’he
Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Al
fred Uhry is now making those same
tire marks in Bryan.
Directed by Donnie Wilson, Stage
Center op< ned their 2(ith season
with “Driving Miss Daisy” and a mes
sage to all theater lovers. Commu
nity theaters can still ride with the
rest of them. Sometimes, Stage Cen
ter’s ride was a little bumpy, but it
eventually reached its destination.
Set in Atlanta, Georgia in 1948,
“Driving Miss Daisy” is the story of
two people from two different
worlds who realize (hey live with hu
man prejudice, just like the rest of
us. Daisy Werthan is an elderly Jew
ish woman who cannot accept the
fact that she’s growing old and grow
ing more and more dependent on
others, especially when she has to
depend on a black man.
Daisy’s son Boolie Werthan hires
an enthusiastic chauffeur named
Hoke Coleburn, whose main dedica
tion is to his work and service for
others. Daisy feels threatened by the
fact she is forced to depend on
someone, but ends up admitting to
(Above) Boolie Werthan (Dave Kelton), Hoke Coleburn (Harold Pre- in a scene from Stage Center’s opening performance of “Driving
sley) and Daisy Werthan (Wanda Daisa) try to settle a disagreement Miss Daisy.” (Right) Hoke chauffeurs Miss Daisy around town.
Hoke, later in the play, that they are
best friends.
The play's climax comes as Hoke
and Daisy are driving to the Jewish
temple and are forced to turn
around. The temple had been
bombed. Daisy Tepeatedlv veils "1
can't believe it!Tm sui%‘ the\ meant
to bomb one of the conservative syn
agogues or the orthodox one.”
Hoke then quiets her with the
most truthful line in the play.
“It doan’ matter to them people.
A Jew is a Jew to them folks. Jes’ like
light or dark we all the same nigger."
he says.
Wanda Daisa plays Daisy Werthan
with grace and style but lost much of
her emotion throughout most of the
important scenes. She was poised,
yet she wasn’t pushed hard enough
to actually submit to the role. 1 have
to mention though, that Daisa
played well off of Harold Presley
who plays Hoke.
Presley commands the stage with
his presence. He yvas the only char
acter that actually forced me to be
lieve him. Everything Hoke Cole
burn wanted to say came through in
Presley’s performance. Boolie is
played by Dave Kelton, who gives a
respectable performance as Daisy’s
son.
The actual weakness of the play
was in the transitions. The story
moves quickly from one scene to the
next. The actors looked rusty and
would have gained much authority
yvith another rehearsal.
Wilson directed “Driving Miss
Daisy” without much focus. The
problem is that there was not much
of a cooperation between the written
text and the performance. There is a
lot of word play that was missed in
the performance which could also be
attributed to opening night jitters.
Scott Bagby designed the set and
the lights. I did not have a problem
with the set because it served its pur
pose. The lighting, however, yvas an
annoying distraction.
Harsh shadows were created by
the use of front lighting only. The
problem could have been eliminated
through the use of on-stage lighting.
For example, there yvas a desk and
a table that could have housed a
lamp, thereby creating more of a
natural effect. The scenes in the car,
however worked beautifully because
of the overhead lighting.
The use of slide projectors to im
pose images on screens behind the
actors was a great addition to the
play. A brilliant idea was used and
experimented with and the director
made some yvonderful decisit
I he slides helped to convey
images that Alfred Uhry had
tended through the text ofthepli
Overall 1 congratulate StageG
ter for an honest performance.& '
though at times 1 felt that thediff 1
tor did not go f ar enough,
ommend this play to an audit!
that is willing to listen and u
stand what Unry is trying to say
Stage Center continues th™thread’Society
duction of “Driving Miss Daisy"
three more performances on Till
day, Friday and Saturday at
I ickets can be reserved by
the box Office at 846-0287.
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