E-Mail this Page | Print this Page

Theatre

Beautiful Child (2009)

Angela Isabell as Nan

Approaching the Role

“My character is a suburban wife who is fighting an inner struggle about her feelings toward her husband and later her son. I try to show how much her character resents life because of her pain but that she also simply longs for her husband’s love.”

The Production

“This production is different from any I have been in here because it is so much more serious. It does have a few moments of comic relief but it needs that relief because it is so intense.”

Thoughts for Prospective Students and Audience Members

“I think that a variety of people would very much enjoy the play. However, one does have to follow the story closely for it to make its full impact.”

Mason Quinn as Harry

Approaching the Role

“My character is Harry. Harry is a middle-aged alcoholic adulterer living in an unhappy marriage. He loves his son Isaac very much but doesn’t quite know how to show it. He also still loves his wife Nan but doesn’t realize it. He feels the need to have to understand whatever problems might come to him so he can fix them.”

The Production

“The most challenging part of this show is the emotional involvement required for the content of the play. There are no characters in the play that aren’t going through some kind of crisis, and that brings us all to a deeper emotional level.”

Thoughts for Prospective Students and Audience Members

“People should know that this is not a story about a disgusting child molester; it’s a story about acceptance, morality and being there for your loved ones.”

Amber Nightingale as Delia

Approaching the Role

“Delia is Harry’s secretary and also his fling. She really loves him and she not only wants him to love her back, but in a way she needs his love. At home she is treated poorly by her father and eventually runs away from him, so she can leave with Harry. Delia is a delicate and desperate character. When I play this character, I try to avoid focusing on her pitfalls and hardships because I want people to see that she is trying to continue living even though life hasn’t been the nicest to her.”

The Production

“This production is probably something that will be avoided by our community because of the content; when I first heard what it was about, I told myself that I didn’t want to be in it because I didn’t want to have everyone assume things about me and my beliefs. However, after I sat down and read the play, I realized that it brings up some really good sides to the problems encountered and it shows people how to see these unwanted topics differently and in a new light. I find it really challenging to get people to understand that it isn’t about the son and his problems at work, but it is really about the love story of a couple who has had downfalls, but eventually fall back in love.”

Caitlin Parker as Dr. Hilton and Victor’s Mother

Approaching the Role

“I will play two characters in this play. The first, Dr. Elizabeth Hilton, is a psychologist who treated Isaac when he was 13 years of age. She is sophisticated and refuses to let anyone bully her or treat her less than she believes she should be treated. While Elizabeth seems as though she is real, she is often an outwardly spoken inner conflict with a character. She is seen arguing with Harry as he tries to blame her for his son’s ‘problem.’ She is also seen with Delia alone on a bench as Delia attempts to understand what to do with her life. With Dr. Hilton I want the audience to understand that she represents inner conflict and is often not really there, but inside the characters’ heads. In a sense, she says out loud what most only think to themselves.

“The second character I will play is Victor’s mother. Victor’s mother is the mother of a boy that was abused by Nan and Harry’s son, Isaac. Again it is important that the audience understand that Victor’s mother is not really there. She is instead the voice in Nan’s head while she sleeps. She represents Nan’s inner conflict over what her son Isaac has done and how she is handling it.”

The Production

“This is my first theatrical performance with Chadron State College so this is obviously going to be a challenge. Along with that this play involves a much smaller cast than usual. Otherwise I think it will be exciting to show the audience the true meaning of the play.”

Thoughts for Audience Members

“I think theatre goers need to read deeply into the play and look at the meaning of the play as a whole before judging. When first reading the script many of the performers were thrown off at some of the characters’ actions but after multiple readings it is evident that the play involves so much strength and perseverance on the part of each character. Other than that … I guess you’ll just have to see the production!”

Directed by Scott Cavin

Approaching “Beautiful Child”

The last two productions I directed, “Boy Gets Girl” and “The Shape of Things,” incorporated simple themes, so I had to just concentrate on communicating one goal/idea/story to our audience.

In “Beautiful Child” the story has one main theme but it can get lost so easily in Isaac's back story. He is such a powerful influence on the audience. This character’s actions are so horrendous that it is a challenge to pull the audience away from him and focus on Harry and Nan.

Production Challenges

One challenge in this production is balancing the delicate subject matter with the characters’ absurdity and the comedy in which it is presented.

The characters in “Beautiful Child” move freely in time and space. One minute Harry and Nan are having an intense argument and the next minute they are talking directly to the audience trying to get them to see their points of view. The audience is presented with internal monologues and imaginary characters that only appear to select characters.

The biggest challenge is keeping the play’s action believable for the audience.

Adult Themes

“Reckless” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” two of the plays the theatre department is producing this year, have the “mature” label attached to them because of language and suggestions of adult themes. In “Beautiful Child” the adult themes are not suggestions but a delicate part of the story. The audience is forced to be aware of Isaac’s actions and how they influence the actions of his mother, Nan, and father, Harry.

Thoughts for Prospective Students

Theatre is not always pretty.
Theatre is not always comfortable.
But
Theatre is always thought provoking.

Clint Wright, Set Design

Approaching the Set

“I’m still trying to get all the details of my approach entirely worked out, but like all art, designing for the stage is just figuring out how to get your ideas flowing. Personally, when I start, I try to pick up on a play’s major themes and go as far to the extreme with those themes as I can. Then through various sketches and conversations with the director, actors and other designers I try to work backward from that extreme vantage point without destroying the idea it represents.”

Qualities of the Set

“The real difference between this set and my previous design is actually due to a change in the way I think. I used to believe that in order for people to understand my design it had to completely and blatantly be there. The problem with that idea is it makes the set distracting and therefore less a part of the show. This set, and the ideas it embodies, while admittedly massive, is much more subtle than anything I’ve ever attempted. I believe this actually makes it more powerful as well as understandable/believable.”

Thoughts for Prospective Students

“I think the most important thing for prospective students to know is that theatre as an art form is based on cooperation and compromise; nothing ‘just happens.’ Everything has hours upon hours put into it, and if you aren’t willing to work with the ideas of others then nothing happens. Without actors, there would be no theatre, this is true, but without designers/technicians the actors would be on stage with no set, naked … and it would also be completely dark.”