8F AUGUST 1996
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
From the Shrink World to Here, Kansas
The Averills dominate KU theater season
EARL RICHARDSON/JOURNAL-WORLD PHOTO
Will Averill, left, and his father, Ric Averill, will both have plays staged within the next year at Kansas University.
- Creativity is at the heart of the Averill family.
BY JAN BILES
JOURNAL-WORLD ARTS EDITOR
Some call it the Year of the Averills. And they're right if they're talking about the upcoming University Theatre season.
Ric Averill, a Kansas University alum, will direct his original "Alex and the Shrink World" for Theatre for Young People in mid-February. His son, Will, a KU senior, will have his play, "Tales From the Wasteland," staged in late January and early February in Inge Theatre.
Tom Averill
Tom Averill, Ric's brother, a KU alum and Kansas folklore and literature professor at Washburn University in Topeka, will debut his "Abide with Me" in
Crafton-Preyer Theatre during the Alums Come Home celebration in late April and early May.
Jumpstarted at KU
1979 was the last time Ric Averill had a play staged at KU.
"I was in the master's program in children's theater," he said. "It was called 'Lynfeneer and the Journey Cloak.' It was science fiction, about space pilots."
The production featured two huge spaceships built in the Averills' back yard and robots. After its stint on the KU stage, the play toured the state, with Ric Averill serving as the touring company's general manager.
"That jump started the Seem-To-Be Players," he said, referring to a touring company of adult actors who formed in 1980 and continue to specialize in children's theater.
In 1985, shortly after the Seem-To-Be Players began producing full-length plays, Averill wrote "Alex."
"It's about a little boy adjusting to his newborn baby sister," he said, adding that Will was 8 and his sister, Trish, had just been born. "He shrinks to the size of an ant. He's threatened by the evil King Brown, a spider. ... In many ways, the character of
Alex is much like Willie was."
Averill said the play sat for a while and then he entered it into the Indiana University Purdue/University of Indianapolis Bonderman Children's Theatre Playwriting Symposium. It won.
The revisions cut some songs and a ballet sequence by Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia of "Star Wars" fame. Averill said he will revise the play even more before he directs it on the KU stage.
"I had submitted it three other times," he said. "Then in 1995, I gave it a big rewrite."
In addition to the KU production, Ric Averill also has written a play for the SeemTo-Be Players season. "Reliable Junk,"a play for junior high-age students, will be performed Jan. 23.
The play calls for a cast of 11 or 12, plus a person to be the voice of the baby sister. Production meetings will start in the fall.
The hour-long play is based
on the real-life story of Harvey Sheets, who runs the Cosmic Connection Museum in Maryland, and his relationship with a cynical junior high-age student. The set will be designed by Kim Peter Kovac of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
"We'll do it here and then it will do a national tour in 1997-'98," he said.
year, he wrote "The Seed," a macabre children's play with a 10-foot-tall female puppet.
"Paul asked me 'What does it mean?' I couldn't explain it so he told me do something more realistic," Averill said.
Will Averill began writing when he graduated from high school.
"I was doing Renegade Theatre and sketch writing," he said, adding that one of the sketches he co-wrote, revolving around the recurring character of Ranger Bob became a regular at the theater.
Just starting out
"I was doing lots of acting. It was a loose environment, and in a way it was a good place to start out."
As a KU sophomore, Averill enrolled in Scriptwriting I, taught by Paul Lim. That
As a junior, he took Scriptwriting II and his assignment was to write a full-length play. The result: "Tales From the Wasteland."
"It's pseudo-autobiographical," he said.
The play focuses on two men who live in an apartment after they've graduated from college. Jake's a cartoonist who's trying to get published; Scott flips pancakes for a living and is involved in a love triangle with his present ex-girlfriends. They decide to throw a party and Jake's alcoholic father shows up.
The younger Averill also has other theatrical projects waiting in the wings.
"I've been commissioned to write an adaptation of 'Peter Pan' in the spring for Central Junior High School," he said.
ALL IN THE FAMILY
Three University Theatre productions this season have the Averill mark.
"Alex and the Shrink World," written and directed by KU alum Ric Averill, will be performed at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Feb.15.
"Tales From the Wasteland," a short play by KU senior Will Averill, will take the stage at 8 p.m. Jan. 30-31, Feb. 1-2 and Feb. 4-8.
"Abide with Me," by KU alum Tom Averill, will be staged at 8 p.m. April 24-26 and May 1-3.
Finding a new voice
Tom Averill came to the stage late in life,compared to the other members of his
See Averill, page 42F
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