VOLUME XX, NUMBER 6
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE. ROCKY MOUNT, N. C.
MONDAY, MARCH 22, 1982
GODSPELL IS HERE!
By Tony Pierce
Decree Staff
The expression
“Everybody loves a Musical”
has never had more meaning
than it has this spring at
Wesleyan. Fred Heaviside
(who hasn’t been to a
Wesleyan production in a
year) has made reservations
two weeks in advance! So
have many other faculty,
students, and Rocky Mount
community members. To
what do we owe this high
anticipation?
In case you’ve been living
under a rock for the past few
months, the answer is a very
unique production of
“GODSPELL” which opens
here on Tuesday the 24th. Part
of the uniqueness of the show
involves different production
procedures like sending out
approximately 2000 publicity
flyers to churches, schools,
perspective students, and
graduates of Wesleyan.
Another production procedure
is a one dollar admission fee
for students and faculty.
Phyllis Gitlin who is
Production Manager for
“GODSPELL” explains the
reason behind the new policy.
“This is the most expensive
show we’ve done since I’ve
been here. The royalty fee and
script rental was
approximately $800 alone.
That does not include the set,
costumes, make-up, etc.”
The show is well worth
every penny. It’s full of
production numbers, hilarious
as well as touching scenes. A
tremendous amount of this is
due to the third female
director Coltrane theatre has
seen this Year - Susan
Marrash Minnerlly. Susan is
not just the wife of Douglas
Minnerlly (Wesleyan’s
Technical Director). Susan
received her M.FA in
directing from the University
of Virginia and has directed
such shows as “EL GRANDE
de COCA-COLA’’,
“EVENINGS AT ELEVEN”,
MIDLAND-AN ORIGINAL
SCRIPT” just to name a few.
She is also a very talented
actress and was last seen in
the Tank Theatre’s production
of “THE EFFECTS OF
GAMMA-RAYS ON THE
MAN-IN-THE-MOON
MARIGOLDS’’ as
“Beatrice”. The following is
the result of an interview
conducted a week before the
opening of “GODSPELL”:
Tony - How did you get to
be the director of GS
(GODSPELL)?
SUSAN: IT WAS A
MUTUAL AGREEMENT
BETWEEN PHYLLIS AND I.
IT GAVE ME SOMETHING
TO DO AND IT GAVE HER A
CHANCE TO DO OTHER
THINGS.
Tony: How did you pick
the cast for the show?
SUSAN: THIS WAS A
DIFFICULT SHOW TO CAST.
FINDING PEOPLE WHO
CAN SING, DANCE, AND
ACT WELL IS DIFFICULT. I
CAST FIRST BY ACTING
VERSItlLITY. HOW WELL
THEY USED THEIR
IMAGINATION AND
ADAPTED TO NEW IDEAS.
THE SECOND PRIORITY
WAS MUSIC ABILITY AND
THIRDLY DANCE. THE
ONLY CHARACTERS I WAS
PICKY ABOUT WAS THE
JESUS, JUDAS, AND MAE
WEST CHARACTER OTHER
THAN THAT I WANTED
PEOPLE WHO RESPONDED
WELL ADN WORKED WELL
WITH OTHER PEOPLE.
Tony: Is there any special
reason behind the' Vaudeville
concept for GS.
SUSAN: WHEN I READ
THE SCRIPT THE
VAUDEVILLE STRUCTURE
WAS THERE. DOUG READ
IT AND GOT THE SAME
STRUCTURE FROM THE
SCRIPT. AND WE BOTH
WANTED TO DO
SOMETHING MORE
DIFFERENT. IT’S BEEN
MORE DIFFICULT BUT
WORTH IT.
Tony: Is there any special
message that you as a director
is trying to convey?
SUSAN: YES, TO BRING
JESUS CLOSER TO A
CONTEMPORARY
AUDIENCE. WE TEND TO
MAKE JESUS ONLY A
SAINT - WE LOSE HIS
HUMAN QUALITIES WHICH
WERE VERY REAL AND
IMPORTANT. HE HAD TO
HAVE HAD SOME
TREMENDOUSLY HUMAN
QUALITY TO MAKE
PEOPLE GIVE UP
EVERYTHING THEY HAD
AND FOLLOW HIM TO THE
EXTENT THAT THEY DID.
I’M NOT BEING
SACRELIGIOUS, NOR AM I
PREACHING. I JUST HOPE
THAT OUR
INTERPRETATION OF GS
WILL MAKE EVERYONE’S
BELIEF - NO MATTER
WHAT IT IS - STRONGER
AND MORE PERSONAL
FOR THEM. EVERY ONE
WHO SEES IT WILL GET
SOMETHING FROM IT. IT
APPEALS TO EVERYONE
ON DIFFERENT LEVELS.
One of the greatest
challenges is the role of Jesus
which is handled quite well by
Rusty Styron. When asked
how he feels portraying such
an Important person in
history he said, “It has been
personally gratifying to know
that Jesus may also have had
a sense of humor and at times
became frustrated in
obtaining his quest for man.”
Another very Important
figure that adds to GS’s
uniqueness is the musical
director Steve Wilson. Steve
served as musical Advisor
and Permenant Conductor for
the musical Theatre Society at
Emerson College in Boston.
He has been the musical
director for such musicals as
“NO, NO NANETTE”,
“COMPANY”, and “THE
BEGGAR’S OPERA”. Steve
said he enjoyed collaborating
with the theatre department.
“I think it’s good that faculty
collaborates. There should be
more of it. It gets me to. know
more of the talent than just
those who particiapte in music
department ensembles.”
When asked what he liked
most about GS he commented,
“The real Beauty is the text”.
Another real beauty is the
collaboration. Not only has
music and theatre joined
forces but others have joined
as well. Janet Doles,
(secretary to the Registra) is
the piano accompanist. Nancy
Johnson (wife of Steve
Johnson-South) who was last
seen in “Wanda” in
“KENNEDY’S CHILDREN”
is the drummer. Amy West a
senior from Rocky Mount
Senior High makes her debut
as one of Jesus’ apostles.
Admissions counselor Hank
Hardy portrays another one of
the apostles. The other
apostles are played by: Lisa
Hummerickhouse-an English
Major, Christy Oglesby,
Cathy Ballou, Virginia Evans,
Issac Hodge, and Tony Pierce
who plays Judas and is the
choreographer. Christyle
Johnson (Psychology Major)
is assistant choreographer.
Well, with all these highly
energetic and talented people
at work is there any doubt for
such high anticiaption from
the public? Says David Guth,
“I think it’s going to be a
terrific show. I am looking
forward to this one more than
I have any other show.”
“I’m just looking forward
to it,” says Rachel Dormagen.
m
Christie Oglesbee and Issac Hodge in “Godspell”.
Budbill Shares Poetry
By MARTIE BARBOUR
David Budbill, a writer from
Vermont, was at North Carolina
Wesleyan College last week to
share some of his poetry with
students and faculty members.
During this poetry reading on
Tuesday night, the characters
in his poems came to life as he
intoned the northern mountain
dialect which characterizes the
inhabitants of Judevine. This is
the fictional setting for a series
of three of Budbill’s poetry
books from which he read.
“I’ve always been interested
in dialects,” he noted. But he
doesn’t believe that these
dialects exist as colloquialisms.
“There is no such thing as a
colloquialism,” he maintained.
“There is American. American
resembles English — but
nobody talks English. ’ ’
From these observations,
Budbill reveils the Judevine
residents, through his poetry,
as real people in a real setting.
“I like to tell stories and create
characters,” he said. “I like to
do all of the things that novelists
do.”
“The difference between
poetry and prose,” he added,
“lies in the musicality of the
language. Poetry is much more
musical than prose.”
For the most part, Budbill
strays away from traditional
verse forms. “When you jam
the language into an iambic line
(a tra&tional poetic rhythm),
you fracture it,” said Budbill.
“I think a lot about what
poetry is,” he commented. “But
I haven’t come to any con
clusions yet.”
He has come to one con
clusion, however. “You can’t
define poetry other than by the
musicality of it.”
Budbill sees a substantial
relationship between poetry
and music. “It’s not like a John
Phillip Souza march — poetry is
subtler than that,” he noted. He
recognizes that there are
rythmic patterns in poetry, but
they should not be forced.
The real test of poetry, ac
cording to Budbill, comes.in the
feelings evoked from them,
rather than the forms they take.
“If it moves and touches, it’s a
success. If it’s boring and
doesn’t do anything for you, it’s
a failure,” he noted.
His poems are, for the most
part, narrative in form. They do
tell stories, so some people may
dispute the fact that they even
are poems. But this doesn’t
bother Budbill.
“Call them ‘gavardnicks’ — it
doesn’t matter what you call
them. If you see and feel it, it’s
a success,” he said.
While discussing one of his
books, he explained, “My ob
jective is to pull the reader into
some other life or place. I am
trying to show it, and let the
reader experience it, rather
than telling what ought to be
felt.”
Budbill’s major themes are
human love and loneliness. “I
concentrate on how people
relate to each other—or don’t,”
he noted.
He explained that many of his
ideas come from things that he
has actually seen. “Other ideas
come out of my dream life,” he
said.
“I have no loyalty to the
facts,” he added. “I change
them around as I need to. And
some of it is complete fiction.”
“I have rejected nothing as a
part of the poetic experience,”
he maintained. “It’s a question
of being open to everything —
not shutting off anything.”
Critics have described his
work in “From Down To The
Village” (the third in his series
of Judevine poems) as “notable
for its simplicity and honesty,
for its affectionate and un-
patronizing portrayal of in
dividuals.”
This work was also described
by one critic as, “full of loving
interest in other people and in
what I still insist on calling the
real world....”
Another critic noted that
Budbill “makes us feel what life
— and death — are like in a
simple environment stripped to
the essentials.”
Humor is an element in many
of Budbill’s poems. Sometimes
it is intentional, sometimes it is
not. “There are funny things
that happen in life,” he ex
plained. “Humor gives us a way
to cope with anguish and make
life more bearable.”
Budbill has been writing
seriously for quite some time.
“I made it part of my living
about 15 years ago, and all of
my living 3 years ago,” he said.
In college he studied
philosophy and art history,
receiving a graduate degree in
theology. “The church was too
constraining,” he commented.
So he abandoned this endeavor
and became a writer.
He has written four books of
poems, a children’s book, a
collection of short stories, a
novel and several plays. His
poetry and prose writings have
also appeared in numerous
periodicals.
He was bom in Cleveland,
Ohio, and now resides in the
mountains of northern Vermont
with his wife, who is a painter,
and their two children.
Budbill has never studied
English literature formal!}^ “I
have studied it extensively on
my own,” he stated. “I have
even taught English courses on
the high school and college
levels.”
“I was a lousy student,” he
recalled. “I went to college on
an athletic scholarship. I was
interested in music and theatre
but not in writing.”
However, he did get in
terested in writing through the
encouragement of one of his
English teachers. He explained
that the teacher had seen
something that he had written,
and had given him the incentive
to continue writing.
“If he hadn’t come along,”
commented Budbill, “I
probably never would have
become a writer.”