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Press Release : Article : Denver Colorado
The Magazine
Plainsong - A review by Bev Saidel
I don’t know if Kent Haruf ever imagined that
his novel, Plainsong, would become a stage play. If he did, I wonder if he ever
thought he would see three large stage panels that stretch to the sky and mirror
the stark nature of the eastern plains and the prairie sky of Eastern Colorado.
I also don’t know if he ever imagined an ensemble cast who would so completely
take on the detailed aspects of each of the characters in his novel in such an
amazing way. Watching this play, which was commissioned and celebrated its world
premiered at the Denver Center Theater Company, my friend and I became absorbed
in each moment, each nuance that so brought Mr. Haruf’s novel to life.
Plainsong is the story of life and its complexities in the small town of
Holt on the eastern plains of Colorado. The story revolves around Tom
Guthrie, a teacher, who is left to raise his two small sons after his
wife leaves him in search of something more and two brothers, Raymond
and Harold McPheron who live on their family’s homestead 17 miles east
of Holt. These two bachelors find themselves challenged by high school
teacher Maggie Jones to help a 17 year old pregnant woman, Victoria
Roubideaux, who has been turned out of her home.
The cast of characters is not unlike any you have seen or heard before.
But this story rings with the truth of life that one might find anywhere
out on the eastern plans. There is a trailer-trash family whose son,
though noted for his basketball skills, is a bully at heart. There is
the school secretary looking for love. There is the local principal
wishing for a simpler life. And there is the elderly woman who lives
alone and who befriends the two boys whose mother has left them. All of
this fills the stage at the Denver Center’s Stage Theater.
And what a stage it is. Thanks to the amazing work of Scenic Designer,
Vicki Smith, characters and staging appear and disappear before you in
the blink of an eye through the stage floor. One moment you are watching
Tom Guthrie and the McPheron brothers check cattle to see if they are
carrying calves, while at the next moment you are looking at the cozy
kitchen of the McPheron brothers. Ms. Smith uses limited space to create
the complexity of each scene with flawless motion.
Kudos also goes to Lighting Designer, Dan Darnutzer, who uses the play
of light to enhance the panels with the subtleties of the eastern sky.
Mr. Darnutzer also makes the best of each moment by highlighting
specific areas of the stage for the sole purpose of narration, which
moves the story forward.
Aptly directed by Kentt Thompson, who also serves as the Center’s
Artistic Director, the cast turns each moment into one of anticipation
for the audience. Eric Schmiedl’s wonderful transformation of novel to
play leaves the audience marveling at how he was able to depict the
characters with such intimacy and delicacy for the stage where the
opportunity for descriptive narrative is often brief at best. For those
of us who love this book, the play evoked all that we imagined as we
read and savored each written word.
But the play also brought more –the cast brought each character to life.
We were no longer left to imagine what each of the characters would look
or sound like. Standouts Mike Hartman and Phillip Pleasants, as the
McPheron brothers - Raymond and Harold respectively, were exactly as I
imagined they would be. Each long pause and Coloradoan drawl filled my
ears and brought a smile.
If you love Colorado beyond its ski slopes and financial district, this
play is not to be missed. It is a unique opportunity to explore eastern
Colorado in the late 1980s as created by Kent Haruf and Eric Schmiedl.
---Bev Saidel for the Denver-Mall
Beverly A. Saidel is the owner of Cheap Shots Photography in Denver, Co. (303-331-9932)