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A REVIEW OF BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS: LATE 1930S BROOKLYN MAKES ITS WAY TO THE MERAMEC STORY
Jools Pulcher Art & Life Editor the audiave you ever wondered what it may have been like to ence can’t live in a typical, Great Depression era Polish-Jewish believe me Brooklyn family? Then “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” if I can’t the production that graced Meramec’s stage from Oct. 2-6, 2019, was the play for you. “Brighton Beach Memoirs” believe was one of the several plays performed by the Meramec Theater myself. I had to department. believe I What starts off as a seemingly mundane play about family was this like during the Great Depression, quickly became a production 40-year which captures attention with heavy dialogue and surprisingly old, relatable issues faced by the characters within. male, The most interesting part of this play was the endless amounts of layers that seem to take place within one household. Jewish, head of the family archetype. This was one of the first Throughout the play, the large, well put-together stage manroles I started to feel confident in. I had to allow myself to lean aged to give the viewer both endless things to pay attention to into it and do the role justice.” while simultaneously softly directing the audience’s attention Overall, this production really managed to utilize all of its back to whichever family dilemma was currently being sorted various resources both on and off stage to really pull in viewers through in the household. The layers didn’t stop here either, the production also manag- and hold their attention for the duration of the production’s runtime. After about five minutes of dialogue, the play really es to showcase an astounding array of emotions and characterfelt like it stopped being a production on stage, and it really istics of the characters. Actors who we as students may recogbecame more of an involved experience that audience members nize if we saw them in the halls of our school faded into their have been tied into, instead of just being viewers. Brighton characters incredibly well. Beach really managed to imprint itself in the memory of its Evan Turek, who played Uncle Jack in Brighton Beach Memviewers. oirs, said, “I think the biggest challenge was remembering that
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KENNEDY CENTER AMERICAN COLLEGE THEATRE FESTIVAL
This is the third year STLCC Meramec’s theatre club has attended the KCACTF Region5 theatre competition. Though this year, the stage crew show down participants were on their own, when it came to practicing and learning the ropes of each part of the Stage Crew Show Down. There were 19 student representives. Four students and their partners competed against 333 other actors in the Irene Ryan Acting Competition. Evan Turek and Vicky Chen avanced to the semi-final round of 66 actors. Student Kyra Pearson won the best partner award. The Technicians Enhancing the Arts Tech Crew Showdown team won first place against 16 other teams. Photos by: Jessica Koenig
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