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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels April 15, 2004 A classic challenge By Steve Zimmerman Ashland Daily Tidings Crystal Fox and Chris Butler have waded into the depths of a classic play to face exciting new acting challenges head on. Both say they are are up to the task. The two second-year actors at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival are tackling one of the greatest productions in not just African American contemporary theater but in all of theater itself, Lorraine Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun." The production is being directed by OSF veteran Andrea Frye. Fox and Butler play Ruth and Walter Ray Younger, the troubled but loving couple that guide the play through the lives of African American men and women in the 1950s. Softening up Fox knew the play was a classic and while she didn't care which role she got in the play, she was thrilled to play Ruth. The role brings a unique challenges for her. "In my lifetime, I have never done this play and it is a classic," Fox said. "The timber of my voice is so deep to me that I am always afraid the tenderness of Ruth will get lost in that. So being able to use the strength of my voice and make her softer and tender without making her weak was a challenge." Butler, who starred last year in "The Piano Lesson," plays the tough as nails Walter Lee Younger. He talked about the intricacies of the role. "Walter feels a lot of rage," he said. "I don't mean to generalize or stereotype but the black man usually doesn't have that much of a problem playing the rage. The anger I can get to. It's the parts of the play where I have to crack my chest open and be open and vulnerable that I have trouble with. And that has always been a challenge for me as an actor." Watching a rehearsal before sitting for the interview, director Frye hugged Butler after one particularly gut-wrenching scene between Ruth and Walter Lee. Butler had hit his mark and that was punctuated by the silence when the pair finished the scene. "Chris had hit that mark before," she said. "Chris is a wonderful talent to work with in that he is always exploring and always trying new things. So we had strayed from something that I felt was right on the mark. Chris just picked it up today and got back to that place. And it is a place of great vulnerability for Walter." 50 years later Frye said the play is a relevant today as it was 50 years ago when Hansberry first showed her masterpiece to the world. "It is testament to Lorraine that after 50 years, the play is still a strong compelling piece of work," she noted. "I have directed it before years ago and was enthralled by it. To pick it up again and to have it excite me in the same way, perhaps even in a more visual way as I am older and hopefully wiser, is amazing. "Every day that I work with it and every day I pick it up, I am amazed by the depth of Hansberry's writing. She is someone who is very political but has managed to tell a story that in many ways is very, very political but ultimately very human and American. The work keeps me excited because everyday is a new discovery." Emotions poured out The raw emotion of Hansberry's play comes through in the performances of the actors. For Fox and Butler, it is the range of emotions that makes the play a challenge. "This play is full of emotion," Fox said. "And to not keep them on one level is challenging. It is just coloring it the different shades of emotion that we have as human beings anyway. And so you get to see a full range of color, which is interesting." 'Raisin' is also being done for the first time in nearly 40 years on Broadway this year. Fox said it is not ironic to her that the play is being done simultaneously in diversely opposite stages. "There is something magical about that for me," she said. "It is the time for it to be done on Broadway, which is the home of our classics and for it to be done in a Shakespearean classic theater as well. It is time for it to come back out again." Frye says she feels blessed to have the cast she has for the production. "The festival has extraordinary actors," she said. "But this cast, besides being plain old out and out talented, they are so committed to the work. And that is the commanding quality of the work; it brings out the best in everybody. We have had some very rigorous rehearsals. We are in a rehearsal slot that is very demanding. We work two days and then are off two days. It is a stressful slot but they have maintained a vigor and enthusiasm for telling the story above and beyond." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams