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'The Skin of Our Teeth' By Susan DeRosia Revels Editor For the past eight weeks 34 actors and over a dozen student designers and technicians at Ashland High School have been immersing themselves in Thornton Wilder's 1942 Pulitzer prize-winning play "The Skin of our Teeth." The results of their work will be presented by AHS's drama department for only four performances, at 7:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday, May 8, 9, 10 and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 11 in the Mountain Avenue Theatre. Director David Thompson, from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, describes "The Skin of our Teeth,"as a classic piece of American dramatic literature and comic masterpiece which is at once very simple and extremely complex. "Wilder's style is somewhat surreal, and in this play he contrives to share three days in the life of the Antrobus family, but in doing so to tell the whole of human history," Thompson explains. "George and Maggie Antrobus live in present day suburban New Jersey, but their housepets are a dinosaur named Frederick and a mammoth named Dolly. They are middle aged, but have been alive for five thousand years. When George goes to the office in the morning he works on inventing the alphabet and the wheel. They sometimes refer to each other as "Adam" and "Eva," and their son Henry changed his name from something else after a rather unfortunate incident involving a slingshot and an older brother." For AHS Theatre Producer Betsy Bishop, the play is a classic American comedy that brings to life the fate and foibles of the celebrated Antrobus family - a bold and brassy embodiment of Wilder's vision of the American people." She points our that Wilder himself called it, "a history of mankind in comic strip." For Bishop, the history is a bit surreal, but the strip is undeniably comic. Thompson reported that initial reaction to the "The Skin of Our Teeth" among the cast was as wide ranging as it was amusing. "Several students told me they were so glad I had chosen this play, because its off-beat style of humor matched theirs perfectly. For others, the layering of scenes which seem realistic and then shoot off in strange directions was a challenge." "The play is basically a fable," Thompson explains. "Act One finds our heroes living through an ice age. Act Two brings the biblical flood to the Atlantic City boardwalk, and Act Three presents the challenges of starting over after a devastating war. The play remains comic and hopeful throughout, but there is also a genuine emotional impact. We never stop laughing, but characters that at first seem like mere cartoons become more human as the play progresses, so that by Act Three we care very much about their, and by extension our, survival. Much time was spent in rehearsal exploring ways to create characters who's actions might not seem to connect from act to act, while maintaining a believable and ultimately realistic through line." Thompson, in his role as resident actor/teacher at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, spends his time performing all over the western states and writing curriculum for students and adults who attend the festival. Helping audiences develop a new perspective for viewing a play came in handy, with "The Skin of our Teeth." He found that Wilder's play challenged the students by asking them to change the way they look at different kinds of art as well as theatre. "The main character in the play, the maid Sabina, is constantly breaking character to complain to the audience that she doesn't understand the play. Many of the students spent the first couple of weeks of rehearsal doing the same thing. Today almost all of our entertainment is visual, and direct; what you see is what is real. To work with a script that demands more of an impressionistic, poetic reality approach was a new experience for many of these students. Our work involved studying not just theatre, but the poetic, somewhat surreal work being created in other art forms during the first half of the twentieth century. To look at the paintings of Pablo Picasso is to begin to get a sense of the perspective of this play." Stage managing the production is Stephanie Edwards, with Naomi Gould-Maisel acting as assistant stage manager. Choreographer is Amirah Said. The design team includes: Doug Hamm, set designer; Dianna Lee, costume designer; Reid Beels, sound designer and David Jones, lighting designer. Jane Hickin-botham, AHS technical director, oversees all crews. Russ Otte assisted with vocal music. AHS's drama department is known in the community as a program with high standards for both acting and technical crews and many students gain solid experience working behind the scenes on the plays produced during the year. Thompson found one of the most rewarding aspects of his job was being able to watch the students develop both responsibility and talent in many different fields. Particularly impressive for Thompson was the work of two seniors and a junior. "David Jones and Reid Beels created the lighting and sound designs. David was assistant lighting designer for "The Sound of Music" in March and is now in the driver's seat himself. And I am very excited to have junior Amirah Said as choreographer for the production. Having just completed the role of Leisl in "The Sound of Music," Amirah is now working the other side of the movement fence, creating dances for the Act Two "Flood" portion of the play, and a powerful war montage which links Acts Two and Three. About twenty members of the cast are working under her leadership to create these musical portions of this beautiful parable of a play, which uses comedy, music, and philosophy to remind us that despite all our human failings, we are worth saving, and that somehow we will always pull through, by the Skin of our Teeth." Tickets are $8 at the door ($1 less if purchased in advance) and available now at AHS Main Office, Paddington Station and Tree House Book. For more information, call 482-8771. LINKS: REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. DAILY TIDINGS: Main | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -