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APRIL 3, 2012

Theatre

UCO THEATRE STUDENT TO STAR IN ‘SPRING AWAKENING’ By Celia Brumfield / Staff Writer UCO music theatre student Leah Coleman is already an actor at the professional level, starring in Oklahoma City’s Lyric Theatre’s production of SPRING AWAKENING. Adapted from the German play written in the 1890s, Lyric’s version of the play is a “rock musical,” set in the original time period but with singing and dancing to the music of Duncan Sheik. “It’s a coming-of-age story that handles just about every issue there is. That is why it’s hard to describe,” Coleman said. Director Michael Baron describes it as an edgy show, saying, “It shows all the danger of teenage life… It’s a very moral play. It’s all about the relationships and the tension between adolescents and adults. A teenage girl gets pregnant and she doesn’t know why it happened because she doesn’t know what sex is.” Coleman portrays this young girl, the starring role of Wendla. “Wendla, she is a young girl who is going through life changes very quickly and she doesn’t really understand them. My character opens the show because she has boobs and her clothes don’t fit anymore,” Coleman said. “The adults don’t help her intellectual growth at all. She’s very intelligent, but she is extremely frustrated because she can’t understand how to handle it. She lives in a bubble.” Her character, Coleman said, is reflective of the period she lives in. “In 1890s provincial Germany they are very sheltered and because we [the characters] are misinformed. I end up falling in love with a boy who does know what sex is and I end up getting pregnant,” Coleman said. Coleman and the cast only had 10 days of rehearsal before the show. “Directing is trying to give the most honest performance. If you’re doing the play right, there’s not that many ways to do it,” Baron said about directing the show. “Casting is always the hardest part. Finding the right person for the right role is always challenging.” Coleman was chosen for the starring role

but said she would have taken any of them. “She’s one of the most insanely talented people,” Baron said of Coleman. “She has a beautiful singing voice and she’s a strong actor.” Coleman echoed this praise, describing Baron as “incredible.” “He has an incredible way of communication with actors to get his point across and to get his vision to come to life,” Coleman said. Coleman knew she wanted to be an actor in the fifth grade and everyone had always been very supportive of her and never discouraged her. She also never gets nervous before a performance. “Very rarely do I ever get nervous… I don’t know why,” Coleman said. “This is weird, but I will get nervous for rehearsal more than the actual performance, but by the time the show comes around I’m ready to tell the story. They’re more excited nerves.” SPRING AWAKENING has been immensely successful on Broadway, winning eight Tony Awards and Lyric Theatre is bringing it here for an Oklahoma premiere of the show. “Lyric Theatre is the bee’s knees in Oklahoma,” Coleman said. Lyric offers a school for singing, dancing and acting. Baron is in charge of all artistic programming. SPRING AWAKENING will be running until April 14. There are special prices for student tickets and stage seats available on LyricTheatreOKC.com.

For more details on the Lyric Theatre scan this barcode:

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Kelly Methven (left) and UCO theatre student Leah Coleman (right) star as Melchior and Wendla in Lyric Theatre’s production of SPRING AWAKENING. Photo Provided

Opinion

FRESH.

FAST. TASTY.

FREAKY FAST

By Josh Hutton Ida After pressing the unlock button on the main door, I shuffled into the nursing home. The smell emerged first. A mix of reheated eggs, ammonia, and soiled clothes swirled and seethed into my pores. Fluorescent light reflected off the freshly painted white halls. The halls distracted from the scuffed wooden floors. A Certified Nurse’s Assistant in Tweety Bird scrubs checked her cell phone with one hand. With the other, the CNA tugged at an immobile, doll-carrying young woman, prematurely placed in the facility due to a mental handicap. I stepped past the two and into the public family room. I’m the son of a minister. When I visit my mom and dad on Sundays, the visit begins with three or four church members and myself going to the Parkland Manor nursing home of Prague, Oklahoma. The family room was small and stuffed with mismatched furniture. The wallpaper consisted of faded blue and red stripes. On the walls hung watercolors of a Santa Monica pier in the ‘20s serving as an escape. Seated in a hand-me-down wheelchair with her hands folded, was Ida. Ida attended the Prague church since before I was born until the day before I visited. She shook from her first night spent at the nursing home. Her daughter sat on an end table beside her and held her hand. One of the men with me asked if she’d be there for a while. “It looks

like it will be…” Ida didn’t finish. Her voice broke, and tears crawled down her cheek. Ida said she’d been taking her meals alone. We started to sing hymns. During “Heavenly Sunlight” Ida’s daughter began to cry. She left the room. Ida, with her head still down, explained, “She’s alright. She’s just scared for Mama.” In that moment Ida grasped for her humanity. Despite losing her home, despite being away from her collection of books, despite being unable to sip coffee from her porcelain cups, she still took on her role as a mother. In this country of over 16,000 nursing homes, senior citizens are discarded. Put on a shelf, out of sight, so the rest of us can continue onwards with our lives. Instead of valuing older citizens like Eastern cultures, the United States treats them like leeches on the Social Security system. The biggest issue with nursing homes is the impact it has on families. Those who live in the nursing home are stripped of many of the niceties they valued during independence. It’s like a slow, torturous parade commemorating life’s exit. The men and women, who helped establish this nation, as we know it, deserve dignity. I urge all who have elderly loved ones to consider all possible options before placing them in a nursing home.

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