USM professor and veteran director Minor Rootes has selected a study of women and their relationships for this season’s opening performance at the Russell Hall Theatre in Gorham. “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” written by Paul Zindel, opens this Friday night at 7:30 and runs through October 12. The Pulitzer Prize winning play explores the trials and triumphs in an all-woman family living under adversity, both social and emotional.
The cast includes Annette L. Bourque as Beatrice Hunsdorfer, Andrea Wickham as her daughter Ruth, Chelsea Cook as her other daughter Tillie, and Richelle Marsh as Tillie’s schoolmate Janice. Rootes said that the actresses contribute to the show on many subtle levels, and he warmly praised their work. “They have brought a uniquely female perspective,” he said. “I have merely moved them on the stage.”
“My challenge,” Rootes said, “[was in] examining the internal problems in an all-female family. Could I [as a male] do it?” He feels that his cast has made this job easier. “The actresses have been educational and brought things to my attention that any sensible person should be aware of, and that we might overlook in order to spare ourselves the difficulty.”
The play focuses on mother/daughter, sister, and other women’s relationships. The play was, however, written by a man. Asked if the author’s male perspective ever intrudes on the work, Rootes answered, “Yes. But this is why I have allowed the actresses to rewrite some lines to be more appropriate to their gender and their perspectives. They have to put detail into those lines, and life and a sense of realism into their roles.” This is quite an unusual approach in theatre directing, but one that Rootes has espoused for a long time, despite criticism, and it has served him well.
“I believe that the audience will recognize a very strong script,” he said. “It is moving, mildly shocking, and an excellent exploration of human character under adversity in the family.” Rootes said the central points he wants the audience to take away with them are “an understanding and sensitivity to the lives of other people,” and an awareness of issues “that we might otherwise discard or erase from our viewpoint.”
The opening show of the season carries with it some unique pressures. The cast and crew have only two-thirds of the time that main stage productions usually have to mount the show. “This provides very little time for the actors to fully mature in their roles as they might,” Rootes said. “However, I have been extremely pleased this time with the actresses. They have each brought some very unique qualities to the production, and each has done in four weeks what some fail to accomplish in six.”
“The quality of theatre at USM is far superior to what one might think of coming from ‘amateur’ work,” Rootes said. “It often rings of very fine professional theatre.” The student actors and crew provide audiences “an excellent opportunity to be exposed to theatre of this high quality… an opportunity that doesn’t come along very often.”
Paul Zindel’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, “The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds,” runs for two weeks at Russell Hall Theatre on the Gorham campus. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on October 3, 4 and the 8th through the 11th, and 5:00 p.m. on October 5 and 12. Admission is $10 for the general public, $7 for seniors, and $5 for faculty and students. To make reservations or for more information, call the Theatre Department box office at 780-5151.
Elias A. Bresnick may be contacted at [email protected]