Life > October 27, 2005

By Sissie Strope

Contributing Reporter

The university theatre department will open Marvin’s Room, written by Scott McPherson, Oct. 28 on the Mainstage Theater.

The show features many young actors from the university community.  In the leading roles are senior Lauren Rico, sophomore Morgan Partin, freshman Rebecca Kahane and freshman Dan Applegate.

“I think people just need to know that while Marvin’s Room deals with heavy issues it still has a light-hearted atmosphere and will make people laugh.  It makes you think about life and death, but will ultimately leave the audience with a feeling of love and warmth,” Partin said.

Director Ray Collins said that one of the main hurdles for the cast was overcoming the age discrepancy between their actual age and the age of the play’s characters. “One character is in her 70s and another is in their 40s.  How do you portray life experience, and age, without the benefit of having lived that long? Our biggest hurdle was to try to understand the emotional aspects of the character and at the same time show the funny side of the situation … We trust that we can offer the comical and tragic side to this wonderful play,” Collins said.

The critically-acclaimed Marvin’s Room tells a moving story of love and commitment. The play focuses on Bessie, a middle aged woman, who discovers that she has been diagnosed with leukemia. Having dedicated her life to taking care of her sick father and invalid aunt, Bessie realizes that the time has come when she herself must ask for help.

When Bessie’s estranged sister, Lee, shows up with her two sons in hopes that one of them will offer a good bone-marrow match for Bessie, the various complexities of the play begin to surface. Lee has never filled the role of “caregiver,” because she believes her own life is too complex to make such commitments to others.

One of Lee’s sons, Hank, has been committed to a mental institution, which has left Lee unsure of how to approach him. This becomes a point of focus for Bessie.

She decides not to medically treat her cancer and she instead focuses on bettering the relationship between mother and son, a form of self-healing through helping others. As the family begins to grow and heal together for the first time in years, the play presents the picture of a community which utilizes laughter as a form of medicine. While this doesn’t seem like a subject for comedy, this warm-hearted play does contain humorous moments. 

Expect the tone to switch rapidly between humor and empathy, joy and sadness. An interesting aside of which to take note, the playwright drew heavily on his personal experience in writing Marvin’s Room while he was caring for his partner who was dying of AIDS.

The elements of caretaking and a care-giving community leaked through from personal experience into his writing.The set and lighting designer for the show is Frank Ludwig, associate professor of theatre. Ludwig chose to create the majority of the set out of Plexiglas.

Though a challenging feat, the effect will be well worth the effort. Once the stage lights are set, they will highlight the transparent material in interesting ways. Marvin’s Room will run Oct. 28-29 and Nov. 2-6.  All shows will start at 7:30 p.m., with exceptions of the Nov. 6 matinee, which will begin at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students, and can be purchased through the Theater Box Office or by calling Ext. 5295.