I first met Gary Thayer last year-as the robot Bender from Futurama, dressed in an elaborate homemade Halloween costume that included silver dryer pipes, a huge cardboard suit, and silver gloves bigger than his head. Something told me that he had a creative streak that surpassed all the ghosts and French maids at the party.
This creative flare shines through in his most recent endeavor. He is the director of Five Fights, a production put on by USM’s Student Performing Artists (SPA), arguably the most active student group on campus.
Thayer, the actors, stage managers, and even the group’s publicist are all students. As a group they have a lot to brag about, turning over two performances each year in Russel Hall’s Black Box Theater. It’s not in vain-seats to every SPA production sell out.
Five Flights should be no different. Every part of the production was done by students outside of the classroom and on their own, including sound and lighting. SPA is boasts easy membership, and encourages any student to join.
“We appeal to students who may have acted in high school, but aren’t interested in a huge college production,” said Kristen Peters, publicist for SPA. “We appeal to someone who’s maybe never acted before, but has always wanted to give it a shot, we appeal to theater majors and non-theater majors.”
Peters made it clear that if any student is interested in being part of SPA-from designing ads to doing makeup or acting, they are welcome to drop by one of weekly Monday night meetings.
The group is fresh this semester, and there are some new elements to Five Flights.
“This will be the first time multimedia will be incorporated into a show,” Thayer said, “which is something really special and particular to this performance.”
Multimedia design is by Jeffrey Grecci. This performance is also host to a credible design team, with scenic design by Danny Gay, lighting by SPA co-chair Jeff Tombs, costume design by Kate Caoutte and Nate Speckman responsible for sound design.
The play itself is modeled from a 19th century Russian ballet, in five sections that move from action to vision to dance.
Five Flights is the story of a life-sized birdhouse, or an aviary, built by the father of children Ed, Bobby and Adele to honor the soul of their mother. The father believes that his widow’s soul lives in a bird, which landed on him after her death. Following the death of their father, the siblings must decide what happens to the aviary, including who should benefit from it.
This night at rehearsal, after Thayer gives his cast their nightly pep talk and checks in with actress Tarra Haskell to make sure she feels less ill than the previous night, the cast is invited to chime in with remarks.
Actors Andy Sawyer and John Kehoe were quick to warn, “don’t forget to talk about the nudity!” They’re joking, but mean to point out that the play is peppered with both homosexual and heterosexual kissing scenes.
This cheerful cast of five then prepared for rehearsal with stage manager Lorraine Rudolph and assistant stage manager Hayley Adams.
Thayer directed his cast, “Remember, the play area will be bigger, there will be a projector here, watch these new lines.”
Five Flights plays with an impressive cast, in an impressive endeavor done right. A free dress rehearsal shows Wednesday, Oct. 24. Four nights of production follow, October 25-28. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for the public. For more information or tickets, call 780-5151 or visit http://www.freewebs.com/studentperformingartists.