Published: October 29, 2009 10:21 am      

GC play opens Friday

The stage has been converted into a huge, empty swimming pool for Goshen College’s fall mainstage play, “Big Love,” written by Charles Mee and directed by Michelle Milne.

This contemporary take on an ancient Greek play will be performed in Umble Center Friday, Saturday and Nov. 6 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday and Nov. 7 and 8 at 3 p.m.

Based on an ancient Greek play “The Suppliants” by Aeschylus, “Big Love” “is both fast-moving and thought-provoking,” Milne said. “It incorporates humor, absurdity, extreme physicality, stereotypes, opposing ideologies, violence and intimacy. It raises questions about responsibility to others, responsibility to ourselves and obligations to tradition/authority.”

Like other productions directed by Milne, this play will include her “signature staging full of movement and audience engagement,” said Doug Liechty Caskey, chairman of the GC Theater Department. The set was designed by Goshen College alumnus Dave Nofsinger, who is a professional set designer and teaches at the University of Memphis, and Anne Berry, Goshen College assistant professor of art.

In the play’s plot, 50 sisters seek asylum from a contract made by their father when they were infants, who promised them in marriage to their 50 cousins. The women point out that they weren’t consulted when the contract was made; the men claim that a contract is a contract. A wide range of opinions are put forth, and pleas are made by both sides to their Italian hosts.

The cast includes sophomore Brittany Lentz (Chambersburg, Pa.), senior Beth Glick (Goshen), sophomore Emily Bowman (Millersburg), senior Angela Noah (Saginaw, Mich.), freshman Vanessa Hofer (Dolton, S.D.), junior Adriel Santiago (Souderton, Pa.), junior Patrick Ressler (Lititz, Pa.), sophomore Phil Stoesz (Goshen), freshman Nathan Stoess (Louisville, Ky.), freshman Sam Jones (Trail City, S.D.) and sophomore Jay Mast (Goshen).

The chorus includes sophomore Peter Garry (Pahoa, Hawaii), junior Meg Kennell (Roanoke, Ill.), senior Kristina Mast (Corvallis, Ore.), sophomore Jay Mast (Goshen), freshman Sammy Rosario (Toa Baja, Puerto Rico), senior Jacob Schlabach (St. Paul, Minn.) and senior Emily Taylor (South Bend).

The Theater Department has rated this play PG-13. Tickets cost $8 for adults and $5 students/seniors and can be purchased by calling the Goshen College Welcome Center in advance at 535-7566.

American Sign Language interpretation will be available at the Nov. 8 performance.