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Student cast members of Departures, the up-and-coming play by Peter Pauze of the Denison Theatre Department, run through a non-dress rehearsal. Final improvements will be made to the set and production before the show opens on Thurs., Nov. 12 at 8 p.m.

Denison Theatre Department departs from the conventional

By: Courtney Vinopal

Posted: 11/10/09

After a successful production of Inherit the Wind, the Denison Theatre department is hard at work at a very different but nonetheless intriguing play, Peter Pauze's Departures. Pauze wrote the play with the help of a Denison R.C. Good Fellowship, which gave him a full-year sabbatical to work on various projects.

The production takes place at an airport departure gate on New Year's Eve. The entirety of the play focuses on the 15-minute period from 11:45 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. This period is examined several times over, with each period focusing on a different group of people waiting at the terminal. As the play progresses in this manner, the audience gains knowledge about the different characters and their relationships with one another.

The structure of Departures stands out from most other plays. Rather than having a definite beginning and end, the play uses what playwright Peter Pauze calls "an unusual 'jigsaw puzzle' format that plays with time." Freshman Keith Mullens Jr., who also acted in Inherit the Wind, plays the character of Martin.

"The rehearsal process of Departures is really different from Inherit the Wind because we rehearse it in different parts, and only a few characters have dialogue at one time," Mullens said.

Although Pauze said that this atypical structure was what initially prompted him to write the play, it turned out to explore much deeper emotions.

"The play ended up being a somewhat sardonic exploration of how we all cope, or fail to cope, with change," Pauze said. "Human beings seem to have a love-hate relationship with change: we seldom want things to stay the way they are, but we also fear change and try to avoid it. I find this paradox interesting."

The production of a play is very much a group effort, and Departures is no exception. The director, Jon Putnam, is always engaged with the cast. When describing his role in the rehearsal process, Putnam said, "It's my job to make sure the actors have explored the many different ways each moment onstage can be played and then to shape it into a whole. Theatre is very much a collaboration, and it's my job to make the piece a coherent production."

Freshman SommerAnn McCullough is the stage manager of the production. She acts as the intermediary between the director and the cast, taking notes at each rehearsal about changes that need to be made or lines that were missed. Once the show is actually executed, SommerAnn will be entirely in charge of the cast and the different technical aspects that complete the play, such as lighting and sound.

As the playwright, Pauze said that his job is to "mostly sit there and offer advice and explanations, when asked, concerning [his] intentions."

Pauze is quick to stress, though, that he does not hold control over the interpretation of the script.

"Theatre is the most collaborative of all the arts and no one knows that better than a playwright watching his work come to life on stage," he said. "I am always amazed at the discoveries actors make, finding stuff in the script that I never even realized was there."

As the cast and crew of Departures prepare to debut the play for the very first time, they have high hopes for everyone involved in the production.

"[I want the audience] to become involved in all of the individual stories that unfold as well as the overall picture," Putnam said. "I want them to laugh, to learn, to agree or disagree with the ideas that are presented, and to leave the theatre satisfied."

Freshman Emily Schuman said she hopes the audience will feel the same attachment she has to the play.

"What I enjoy most about this play is gaining the ability to listen to the characters around me and reacting truthfully to everything that is happening," she said. "I hope that the audience will understand and love this play as much as I do."

Pauze commented on his wishes for the cast of the play, particularly because it has never been performed before.

"As always, my number one hope for our student actors is that this will be a rich and profitable learning experience for them," Pauze said. "That's the only reason we produce theatre here-if our students aren't learning, then, no matter how good the play is, we've failed. Like most theatres, most of the plays we produce have been around for years-sometimes thousands of years-so working on the premiere production of a brand new play, creating characters that no one has ever played before, has been a unique and, I hope, valuable experience for them."

Be sure to catch Departures at the Ace Morgan Theatre on Nov. 12-14 and 16-19 at 8 p.m.