"Blue Leaves" is a Crazy Success
— Fullerton College Hornet - Natasha Martinez - Wednesday, May 11th, 2011
John Guare's. The House of Blue Leaves, opened last weekend at the Bronwyn Dodson Theatre.
The play was comedic and produced genuine laughter that almost hid the stronger and darker sides of the script.
The feeling that the play gave was very personaL It was almost as if the audience was inside Artie's home. Witnessing the events going on as he debated between making a big move to California and Review
being with the "movie stars,"or staying home in Queens with Banana's hopelessly continuing to dream.
John Guare's plays are famous for audience interaction and the characters did well in speaking directly to the audience, even sitting in open seats next to them which proved to be very surprising as audiences are used to being1he·"·observer rather than being a part of a play.
The play follows the life of Artie Shaughnessy, played by Daniel Hunt, as he struggles with the reality of his mediocre life in Queens as a zookeeper and his dreams and desire to move to California as a Hollywood singer/ songwriter.
The backdrop of the play focused on Pope_Paul VI visiting New York City in 1965. His visit causes a whimsical stir in Artie's life and raises excitement amongst his girlfriend Bunny, his mentally ill wife Bananas and his troubled son Ronnie.
The show was directed by Gary Krinke and involved a 12-student cast and four student crew members.
The rehearsal process began in January until the opening of the show. The cast had rehearsals at least three times a week to prepare.
"A lot of the times the director had to adjust the blocking of the script to see if the audience was going to be able to see everything since they were surrounding the set," said Shelby Gronseth, who played Corrina Stroller.
Grunseth described the rehearsals to be a lot of playing around with the script to see what worked for the actors individually. Then it came time to see how the show came together closer to opening night.
Stage manager Fermin Bello had been· anticipating the opening long before the night came to open.
" l felt like this cast had been ready to open for about three weeks now. We definitely had a strong cast," said Bello.
The cast and crew celebrated their opening with sold out shows throughout the entire performance weekend.
Areas of Study...
Acting, Performance and Musical Theatre
Each season of plays provides a wide variety of roles and production post experiences for Theatre students. High production values, current state of the art technologies, and a wide spectrum of very challenging styles and subject matter make the performance venues excellent laboratories for student exploration and growth.
Directing and Playwriting
Few community colleges offer students opportunities to study directing and playwrighting in their first two years of undergraduate study. Students follow the classwork they successfully complete with opportunities to compete for assignments in the Playwrights Festival and the Directors Festival.
General Education
For both the non-major and the major alike, the Theatre Arts general education courses meet university transfer requirements and allow the student to build a strong foundation of introductory knowledge to the many facets of theatre-making and theatre-study.