Lunchbox prepares for staged reading

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DSC_0127WEBKarissa Mathae
The winter LunchBox show will host a dramatic reading of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband,” on Dec. 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre.

The performance will be preceded by the event, Ugly Sweater Gala.

Hot chocolate and cookies will be served and those with the ugliest sweaters can enter a contest to win two tickets to a show of their choice at Theatre in the Grove or Bag & Baggage.

“I chose this show because I really do enjoy Oscar Wilde, he’s got a really great sense of humor,” senior

and student director Lindsay Partain said. “I also chose it because Professor Bove teaches his class on Wilde…and I wanted to pair with his class again and give them something to sit down for and see. Plays tend to be a little bit more accessible if you have them read to you versus just reading them off the page.”

“An Ideal Husband” is a play in four acts with a short intermission after Act 2.

As a dramatic reading, the show will include some light blocking, costuming and prop work as well as a few furniture pieces to the set.

“It’s reassuring knowing that you don’t have to have everything memorized in such a short amount of

time,” said sophomore Corri Seideman, who plays the villain Mrs. Cheveley. “It’s nice because it doesn’t have as much pressure as a normal main stage play would, but it’s still as much fun and as much work. You just don’t have that fear of like forgetting a line.”

As a student director, Partain has been learning to work with peers in a different context.

“You can’t just hand somebody a script and say ‘hey go stand up there and read your lines. It will be a play,’” Partain said. “It has to be a collaboration.”

Although the Theatre Department just ended with the play “Smash” similarly set in time and place, Partain believes the humor sets “An Ideal Husband” apart.

“Wilde is a bit more posh and he’s a little bit more okay with poking fun at the higher classes,” Partain said. “He’s showing a bit of the ridiculousness of the higher classes, especially with Lord Goring. He has no problem being the posh fool.”

Partain pointed out that Oscar Wilde also makes a different message with his play.

“This deals a little bit more with morals–for the moral good and what makes you a good person versus what is politically correct,” Partain said.

The LunchBox dramatic reading will be free for everyone to enjoy.

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