CASSIE ROBERTSON
Staff Writer
Nestled in a cove-like area near Zuma Beach along Pacific Coast Highway, the Malibu Stage Company’s small and inviting Zuma Repertory Theatre exemplifies the best aspects of Malibu’s thriving artistic community.
Students may be surprised to learn that the Malibu Stage Company’s first production was at Smothers Theatre here at Pepperdine.
Now, a recently formed group of talented actors, directors, playwrights, and producers decided to take advantage of the classy, ideal location of the theatre. Their first production, “The Shadow Box,” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Michael Cristofer. The play opened Jan. 18, and it will continue to run through Feb. 2.
In this rendition of “The Shadow Box,” director Richard Johnson and producer Victoria Sterling work with a talented cast, including Howard Ferguson, Pamela Donnelly, Trey Farley, Nancy Little and Will Carney to enact the drama about facing the end of one’s life.
The play, however, is not as dark as its subject matter.
When the lights dim at the start of the opening scene, a striking song by the group Blood, Sweat and Tears begins to play. “And When I Die,” includes lyrics such as “And when I die, and when I’m gone, there’ll be one child born in this world to carry on.”
The upbeat chords of the song carry over into the overall mood of the play. It is often bright and humorous despite the underlying urgency that death is at hand.
The play contains three stories of three different characters facing impending death. The characters’ only similarity is their location, a vacation cottage resort in the woods.
The play’s perspective is, as Will Carney’s character Bryan says, that one has “everything” to do before he dies. Bryan, a middle-aged writer, has a homosexual relationship with a young, attractive former hustler, played by Trey Farley. The arrival of Bryan’s ex-wife, Beverly, lightens some of the heavy subject matter of the play. Viewers will thoroughly enjoy the humorous portrayal of Beverly, played by Pamela Donnelly, whose outstanding performance as a promiscuous drama queen brings life to the stage.
Another character is a family man named Joe, played by director Richard Johnson, whose wife and son come to visit him before he dies. His portrayal of a man facing death despite a long, full life behind him is truly heartbreaking.
The final story is one slightly out of place among the other two. Although interesting, the refusal of Felicity, (Tari Tabakin,) to admit that she is going to die is well-acted but very painful to watch. Nancy Little, who plays Felicity’s daughter Agnes, is a wonderful actress, but her stress is so tangible that it seems to bleed into the audience from the stage.
Although none of the stories are intended to have a comfortable storyline, the last story simply adds to the darkness of the subject matter rather than bringing life to an already depressing plot.
The play ends with an artistically crafted conceptualization of death: the things that one loves do not last forever, implying that one must take advantage of the present.
One of the characters during the play says that they wished someone had told them when they were young that they were not going to live forever. As privileged students it is often hard to remember that we are not invincible.
This is a piece of art that has the ability to empower viewers to walk out of the theatre thinking differently about their lives. It is one with an important message, and although the story is mostly about death, the real message is one full of life.
01-24-2008
