ATTALION
Page 6A • Thursday, Februa] |
Life as an act
Texas A&M Aggie Players to host performance of “An Infinite Ache”
By David Schackelford
THE BATTALION
TLftYS
First date, marriage, careers, parenthood, bliss, pain, old age
and 90 minutes to do all of it.
In “An Infinite Ache,” which will be performed by the Aggie
Players on Feb. 19-22 at the Robert Wenck Fallout Theater, life’s
passage shrinks to the modern attention span.
When senior theater major Shawn Rodriguez chose to direct
“An Infinite Ache,” he knew he had found something relevant to
a college audience.
“(The play) has the ability to connect immediately with the
audience, and I think it touches issues that people, particularly in
their early 20s, are dealing with,” Rodriguez said.
The drama-comedy visits the lives of a young couple, Charles
and Hope, as their relationship is threatened by the unpredictabil
ity of reality. When the two meet, Rodriguez said, Charles
describes his love-at-first-sight as “an infinite ache.” As their
future unfolds, they struggle with their identity as individuals and
as a couple.
“The two characters are simultaneously searching for and try
ing to define love. The play is about their journey to do that,”
Rodriguez said.
Perspective slips and jumps along broad stretches of time,
pausing occasionally to focus on a single moment.
Keith Neagle, a senior theater arts major, plays Charles.
Neagle said portraying the play with sincerity can be a challenge
due to the fast nature of the stage.
“It is a challenge because of the time shifts,” Neagle said.
“Certain scenes can be very heavy emotionally and you have to
turn on a dime and do whatever the next scene is. It’s a challenge
to do it with truth, make it believable.”
Keeping up with events in a world where a minute could be a
year, a decade or just a minute may seem overwhelming for the
audience. But, Rodriguez said, the dynamic nature of the actor-
audience relationship in theater is ideal for such a task.
“We’re all interested in doing theater that demands our audi
ence be actively engaged,” Rodriguez said. “You’ll see a film and
the audience is a passive observer; you sort of sit back and watch
the movie happen. Theater in general demands that the audience
be engaged.”
In simple and practical terms, Rodriguez said, the set supports
the illusion of growth and change depicted by the actors.
“When the play opens, we see a very basic, simple bare apart
ment that Charles lives in,” Rodriguez said. “Then when Hope
The Aggie Players
enters his life and his life
becomes more complex, more
things start appearing.”
Rodriguez said all the action
takes place in a bedroom, which
allows for continuity.
“The set sort of grows and
morphs as the relationship
develops,” Rodriguez said.
“Objects are added and
removed to mark intervals of
time. The gradual changes help
the world of Hope and Charles
evolve as their relationship
evolves.”
Like the set, the characters
do not endure exaggerated
transformations.
Kelley Stolte, a senior double major in theater and speech
communications, plays Hope. She said the characters retain much
of their identity.
“As a human being grows with age, a lot of qualities and ideas
change,” she said. “The play is very realistic in that. Hope and
Charles are still there by the end.”
Rodriguez said the Aggie Players put on an average of two pro
ductions per semester at the Fallout Theater and another two on
the main stage in Rudder.
Keith Neagle, senior theater arts major (left) and Kelly Stolte, senior theater arts and communications major ploy
the young couple David and Hope in the Texas A&M Aggie Player's presentation 'The Infinite Ache.*'The club wil
perform the play Thursday night at The Fallout Theater in Blocker Room 144.
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“More student productions go up here. They’re edgier. More tra
ditional stuff gets done on our main stage,” Rodriguez said.
The Fallout also hosts numerous 10-minute short plays thataie
written, directed, produced and played by students.
Neagle said an upcoming Web site will provide information or
the Aggie Players and season schedules for the Fallout Theater and ttpast,
the main stage at Rudder. 1 Mtncf
The venue of the playi' the Fallout Theater in Blockernxte El
#144, has close to a 50-person capacity, making it aniitotte
atmosphere for "An Infinite Ache.” The show starts at 8 p.m.
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1-800-423-USAF or log on to airforce.com.
U.S. AIR FORCE
CROSS INTO THE BLUE
veritas veritas *vefi
Tonight: February 19
u
Relativism, Truth, and Tolerance”
with Dr. Peter Kreeft
7:00 P.M. * Rudder Auditorium
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Women’s Lunch:
The Role of the Body in the Spiritual Search”
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Probable the
with Lilian Calles Barger (President of Daman's Project)
12:30-1:45 P.M. • MSC 231 ■ RSVP RHildreth@clm.org
“What I Learned from Sex and the City”
with Lilian Calles Barger
4:00-5:30 P.M, - Rudder 410
“Relativism, Truth, and Tolerance”
with Peter Kreeft
7:00 P.M. - Rudder Auditorium
Tommorrow!
FridayFebruary 20
Catholicism and Evangelicalism: Are They Compatible?
by Dr. Peter Kreeft
St Mary’s Catholic Church, 7:00 A.M.
(reservations please: info@aggiecatholic.org)
NOTE: This event is not just for Catholics.
February 16-20,2004
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