UA Theatre to showcase Tennessee Williams play
By Christina Ausley | 02/19/2017 9:19pm
This week, UA Theatre and Dance will present a play that's a little more "eccentric."
Set in Mississippi just prior to World War I, "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale" features a key figure, Alma, who struggles with her own concept of self, freedom and courage. The play brings to light the fear of obtaining true individuality among a relatively conformist society and subtly brings the audience along for the ride.
Raines Carr, a graduate student and the play’s director, has decided to bring the work to life this season.
“This play is about what it’s like to be on the periphery of society, and to be one of those eccentric people that doesn’t completely fit in,” Carr said. “It shows you there is a full life for you, even if it’s not the ‘normal’ one everyone thinks you’re supposed to have.”
The play is relevant to almost any college student and, really, any individual who is willing to put themselves in the audience, Carr said. The story aims to abolish preconceived notions of both the universe and the categorization of oneself in society. Carr selected "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale" because he believes it not only sets the actors free, but also the audience.
“We’ve all been put in this little box like that of Alma in the play,” Carr said. “At 18 years old, you go away from home, and you realize, ‘Wait, this box doesn’t fit me. In fact I’m nothing like this box. I have to figure out who I am, and I need to free myself to do the things that I want to do and be who I want to be.’”
Chelsea Reynolds, a third-year MFA actor, will play the star role of Alma as her seventh performance before graduating in May.
“Alma has this sense of gallantry and courage and forwardness in this time,” Reynolds said. “However, I think a lot of it has to do with finding this gallantry within yourself and breaking yourself out of this prison of your own making.”
Though Reynolds has taken part in numerous other big performances, and Carr has acted in and directed shows for close to 25 years, they both believe this may be their toughest show yet.
“This is the hardest role I have ever played and might ever play,” Reynolds said. “In eight of the nine scenes I perform in, each scene is like an entire play because the stakes are so high, and every scene is an emotional arc.”
It is not often a Tennessee Williams play like "The Eccentricities of a Nightingale" is performed live, and many English and arts students at The University of Alabama have taken note of this rare occurrence.
“Tennessee Williams doesn’t just know how to write, he knows how to write well,” said Maddie Sanders, a sophomore majoring in English. “I’m really looking forward to this performance because it's recently been rediscovered for its dramatic look into the life of an outsider.”
With the cast and crew putting in close to thirty hours of in-theatre work every week, Carr and Reynolds hope to put on an emotionally-charged performance for UA students and Tuscaloosa residents unlike anything they've seen before.
“This is an experience you are not going to get watching a television show or watching a film,” Carr said. “There’s something about the liveness of the theater in this particular play, and the liveness of the emotions of this play and the way that we have created the world. This will be something you have not seen before live.”
Shows will begin Monday, Feb. 20, and tickets can be purchased online through www.ua.tix.com.
Original article posted here.
