#calmaclean

[hainsworthy]

28 Our Country’s Good, by Timberlake Wertenbaker dir by Cal MacLean. Say what? But that was yesterday! You are right, it was, BUT our production was selected to perform at our regional American College Theatre Festival in Carbondale. So we loaded up the truck and moved to Carbondale. SIU that is. Please try to make Carbondale rhyme with Beverly in your minds. This was the first time I was able to remount a show and I have to tell you, if it’s ever possible, take a month off from a show and come back to it. The weird thing about theatre is, when most shows open, it’s when everyone is physically and emotionally exhausted from just trying to get it done. In the month we were away from the show, EVERYONE’S character work deepened, but mine especially. I think the performance down south was even better than any of the ones in Normal. Even though we went to a proscenium theatre 5 times the size. Sadly we did not move on to nationals, because our adjudicators were dicks and we kind of got into an argument with them. To quote Cal MacLean, their position was "well, not EVERYBODY was standing and cheering." It still burns me to this day too. But I have no pictures of that actual production, so here’s me in costume, the delightfully divey bar across the highway from the motel and me acting weird by the hot tub, at which we spent most of our free time. #retrospective #1993 #ourcountrysgood #timberlakewertenbaker #calmaclean #ketchfreeman #majross #isu #isutheatre #redbirdsflyinghigh #SIU #ACTF #carbondale #theheatison (at Southern Illinois University Carbondale) https://www.instagram.com/p/B42GRvgJbBy/?igshid=cpu30tv0kf00

[hainsworthy]

27 Our Country’s Good, by Timberlake Wertenbaker dir by Cal MacLean. An amazing script, by an amazing director and I had TWO amazing parts. Plus it was my first time in Allen Theatre, the late lamented 125 seat thrust theatre. So this for me was probably my best show in college. Threepenny was also an amazing show but I had an hour off right in the middle. OCG was the biggest part since High School and certainly the best acting I had ever managed to that point in my life. I feel like it’s a show whose presence was felt in the department. Like Cloud 9 the year before and Balm a few years later. I played Ketch Freeman and Maj. Ross. Irish and Scottish accents. Honestly everything about this show was so amazing that I don’t have a whole lot to say about it. Everyone in and working on that show was just focused on doing the best show possible all the time. TO this day I can still feel the audience experiencing the show. It felt both like an honor and an obligation to do so. Okay one, story, we are in dress rehearsals and we are doing the scene titled The Authorities Discuss the Merits of Theatre. Huge scene, all nine actors in it, the characters are drinking and arguing, dialogue flying fast and furious and BAM - dead stop. I KNOW it’s not my line, but I hadn’t figured out whose line it actually is. So we are all just staring at each other. Since I know it’s not my line, I figured I would signal to the rest of the cast that I know it’s not my line by taking a drink. 9 ACTORS ALL TAKE A DRINK AT THAT EXACT MOMENT. Finally one actor whispers, “whose f-in line is it” and then Kathy Seno prompts that actor with “Surely reverend you believe -” at which point the actor who asked whose line it was realized it was his line and we proceeded. Show photos by Pete Guither #retrospective #1992 #ourcountrysgood #timberlakewertenbaker #calmaclean #ketchfreeman #majross #isu #isutheatre #redbirdsflyinghigh #allentheatre #heresscotlandheresirelandheresthebloodysea (at Illinois State University) https://www.instagram.com/p/B40CBxdJ-BD/?igshid=17f9ek6a08210