The Glacity Theatre Collective has audiences in limbo as it performs Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” at the Valentine Theatre’s Studio A. The absurdist classic is set to open June 11.

The production features Ben Pryor, Kevin Hayes, Dave DeChristopher, Kevin Barron and Zachary Safadi, with set design by James S. Hill and lighting by Donald Robert Fox. The stage manger is Dan Norton. Cornel Gabara is directing for the company.

The cast of ‘Wating for Godot’ at the end of its rope.

“I first saw a BBC production of the play on television in Romania, and I just thought the characters were crazy. I didn’t understand what they were really waiting for. I didn’t understand that was the whole point, that they had a reason to be there,” Gabara said. “I think one of the reasons why we keep coming back to this play, is that no matter what nation we are from or what generation we were raised in, people continue to act in an absurd way, to do things that go against logic. The idea of having world wars so close together, that’s absurd, having brilliant minds working on something like the atomic bomb, that’s absurd. We discover ourselves in these characters.”

Gabara is an assistant professor at UT, where he is the head of Acting Theatre. He has directed a number of past Glacity productions including “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and “Breathing Corpses.” Beckett, who passed away in 1989, completed the play in 1949. It was first produced in France in 1953, under the direction of noted actor Roger Blin. Beckett was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969.

“The hardest aspect of directing this piece is that you can’t change a word, you can’t change the stage direction at all, you just have to trust the writing, it was tough, but the actors are really coming along and it’s been a wonderful experience,” Gabara said. “I think you learn lot about acting, theater in general, and the journey of life this way.”

Additional show dates are June 12-13, 18-20, and 25-26. Tickets are $20. Both Sundays are “Pay What You Can.” The Valentine’s Studio A features a cash bar and is located at the 410 Adams St. entrance. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, call (419) 242-2787 or visit the Valentine box office online at www.valentinetheatre.com/boxoffice.

Tags: Glacity Theatre Collective

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under Star, Theater.
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