The ghost of a beginning
By KAREN SHADE, 5/20/2006
"The Woman Who Was Captured by Ghosts," an original work, continues at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Nightingale Theatre. JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World
Despite technical problems, Thunder Road work is a promising start
Ghosts can get away with almost anything. One bad deed, and they vaporize into nothing, only to come back again and again. In "The Woman Who Was Captured by Ghosts," however, they don't escape the storytelling process unscathed.
Part contemporary drama and part traditional Cheyenne narrative, Thunder Road Theater Company's latest live offering is an original drama from Tulsa playwright Julie Pearson-Little Thunder. The production is a workshop presentation.
At Wednesday night's special preview performance at the Nightingale Theater, the production's weaknesses were obvious: Little Thunder's script needs more work, and the tech crew needs a few more runs to fine-tune lighting and sound (which would give actors a little more time to learn all their lines and blocking, or stage movement).
But "The Woman Who Was Captured by Ghosts" shows promise that it can evolve into a polished production, and it has a key ingredient that makes it completely identifiable -- lead Jana Rhoads.
The workshop process is necessary, and it's engaging to look at a new work at this stage.
The play is based on a Cheyenne story of a girl who is stolen from her home by maleficent ghosts, who take her to their far-off land. The girl escapes, and her physical journey home is also a metaphor for her inner life and conveys well the concept of a woman's struggle with breast cancer.
"Long ago, in a deep night, when the whole world seemed to be asleep, a Cheyenne woman heard a noise outside her lodge. Everything seemed calm and peaceful. The moon shone brightly overhead, and as the woman stood in the doorway, she cast a shadow on the ground. She watched as the shadow grew longer and longer and saw that it wasn't a shadow at all, but a ghost that had swooped down behind her to take her captive."
So begins the play, as read by the Storyteller (Irene Tiger) in a traditional dress. But "Woman" battled from the start, and the battles didn't always spring from the drama's faults. Babies and small children turned fussy soon after the house lights went down.
For those theatergoers thinking of bringing little ones to see a drama about a woman dealing with a life-threatening illness and the heavy toll it exacts on every aspect of life, I say think again. Most of us would rather be able to hear the actors instead of the tantrum in the second row. There are certainly more appropriate alternatives for baby's first live theater.
After the Storyteller has painted the set, Marissa (Rhoads), a Cheyenne woman with a teenage son and a failing marriage, is on the verge of learning she has a lump in her right breast. When she is told the lump is a malignant tumor, the ghosts and other elements of the traditional story begin to emerge and eventually take over in the second act.
Director T.J. Bowlin gives the script a full-staging treatment, but the production may have benefited from more attention to the script. In the week before preview night, Little Thunder said she was still doing some rewrites, which could explain why some of the actors weren't prepared.
Rhoads, however, was almost unshakable in her steadfast focus and seemed to pull the play out of holes a few times. The concept of "Woman" is interesting, but without Rhoads' earnest desire to create a completely believable woman in Marissa, the evening might have been different.
Does the fact that "Woman" is still in the middle of its creative process excuse some improvisation, problems in blocking and some overly enthusiastic acting? Everyone's got an answer for that, but if the intention is to plot a beginning from which to improve upon, at least it makes one curious to see where how it will end.
"The Woman Who Was Captured by Ghosts" is a good beginning and should do even better the next time we have a chance to see it. I'm hoping there will be a next time.
"THE WOMAN WHO WAS CAPTURED BY GHOSTS"
A production of Thunder Road Theater Company
When
8 p.m. Saturday
Where
Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Admission
$10 general admission and $8 students/seniors. For reservations and information, call 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666].