Event Article

The new FJC Campus Theatre will have its formal christening on the evening of March 3, when the Theatre Arts Department presents a dramatic production of the widely-acclaimed Arthur Miller play, "Death of a Salesman."

Auditions open to all students for parts in the play took place during final examinations week with the first rehearsal having begun last Wednesday. Performance dates have been slated for the nights of March 3, 4, 9, 10, and 11.

In the words of Theatre Arts instructor, George Stoughton, "Mr Miller gave a responsible view of life in our society, not a pretty picture, but an accurate picture of the men and women who struggle with the everyday reality of the average American in the world we know".

The story deals with the last days of a failing salesman, Willy Loman, who, through a series of tragic revelations of his past life with his family and business associates, tries to find just how and where he failed to achieve happiness and true success in life. Willy discovers that throughout his life he has only accepted the denatured and distorted ideals of society rather than the higher, more meaningful values of a good life.

"Mr. Miller believes that his character,'Death of a Salesman's' Willy Loman, was a character of heroic dimensions", for all his Stoughton, "and that, for all his pathos, he made the play a tragedy rather than a lament. The great respect for the author and his work," commented Mr. Stoughton, "would tend to prove how successful he was."