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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ARTS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 2004
Theatre conquers work from 1770s
By Miranda Lenning
mlenning@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
After weeks of work, a group of performers will soon find out just how well they have translated a play from Thomas Jefferson's era into a modern production.
This week, the Kansas Summer
his week, the Kansas Summer Theatre is preparing to stage She Stoops to Conquer, a musical comedy originally produced in 1771. The play will be showing July 16 and 17, and July 21 to 24 at the
William
Inge
Theatre in Murphy Hall, northeast of Allen Fieldhouse.
time and place," she said. "We wanted to expand on that an make it laugh-out-loud funny."
"It is a traditional comedy done in a non-traditional, updated style," said Armstrong, who received her master's degree from the University in May. "Most classic comedies just aren't funny. We made some changes that would appeal to our audience."
Sara Armstrong, the play's director, said she had studied the work for a long time and thought it would be fun to take a play that was written in the 18th century and adapt it for a modern audience.
The play is about two young women from wealthy families, who are being pressed into choosing husbands. Although their families have a requisite manner and personality for their suitors, the women are determined to track down and win the men of their choice. The play is filled with improbable events that occur at the most inconvenient time, Armstrong said.
ou sit back and think about it,it is very unlikely that all these things would happen at just the right
Armstrong said one of the biggest changes made in KST's version of the play involved three actors listed as ensemble characters. Normally, the ensemble characters would play servants or random extras, but Armstrong said they rewrote those characters to come onstage and push the comedic action.
They make subtle comments about what is going on in the show, and they have an impact in the songs, said Armstrong.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
A trio of cupids beset one of the main characters of She Stoops to Conquer. The four then proceed to sing "Chapel of Love." The song is just one of more than 20 that the group added to the play in an effort to relate more to the audience.
"The original songs just weren't ones you could sing along with. We haven't chosen any songs that most of the audience won't know."
Sara Armstrong Director of "She Stoops to Conquer"
The music is another aspect of the original play that KST updated. In the original, there were only a few songs, all unrecognizable to Armstrong and the cast. She said they replaced those songs with different music that shared the same feeling onstage. They also added more than 20 songs to their version, all of which they expect the audience to be able to recognize.
"The original songs just weren't ones you could sing along with," said Armstrong. "We haven't chosen any songs that most of the audience won't know."
They also updated the historical references, and inserted pop-culture references that people would be familiar with. In the play, Mr. Hardcastle, the father of one of the young lovers, has a long conversation about war. Armstrong said that the war he talked about was so long ago the audience couldn't relate to it. They changed they script so his war conversations indicate he was talking about the Korean War.
Delores Ringer designed all of the costumes for KST's production of She Stoops to Conquer. Armstrong said she kept the costume attributes of the original era pastel colors, men in log coats, women in gigantic skirts and made them more acceptable for a modern audience. The characters will still wear a lot of pastels, and there will be an overly ornate feeling, but instead of long coats the men will wear polyester leisure suits decorated with flowers and the women have a 1950s look,Armstrong said.
"Some of the men have said the costumes make them feel like they are in Saturday Night Fever." Armstrong said.
Armstrong said her favorite part about the play was the powerful portrayal of women.
SEE THEATRE ON PAGE 17
The illustrations on these two pages are the original costume designs by Delores Ringer for University Theatre's She Stoops to Conquer.