By Tabitha Redder/nw news editor
Theatre Northwest will perform the encore production of The Good Woman of Szechwan later this month, allowing the actors to perform a play that was cut short last semester because of an ice storm.
The protagonist in the play, an epic originally written by Bertolt Brecht, is a good-natured prostitute named Shen-Te, who spends half of her days in disguise as her fictional cousin, Shui-Ta, so people will not take advantage of her so easily.
Casey Magin, who plays the dual lead, said she initially thought it would be more challenging to get into the male persona of Shui-Ta, but as rehearsals went along she found it more difficult to figure out Shen-Te.
“She’s a good person and just wants to do the right thing,” Magin said of her character. “But she lives in the real world in this really dark town that doesn’t have any goodness in it, and she’s trying to survive and stay a good person.”
Morgan Mizell plays the second god as well as the unemployed woman and finds the epic type of theater challenging.
“I think what’s difficult for me is creating a character,” she said. “These people have to be honest and still be realistic, but the show requires them to be epic, so they have to be larger than life. It’s a lot different than doing a very realistic show.”
The cast has been given an unheard of opportunity to perform the same piece twice in the same year because the December ice storm canceled all but two of their shows.
“You know, as an actor there are always things you wish you could have made deeper or improved, and that’s what we’re trying to do, take advantage of this opportunity and make something better,” play director and drama associate professor Josh Blann said.
Mizell is grateful to be a part of round two of the play.
“The fact that we’re about to come back and work on it again is just something you don’t get to do, I mean, ever,” she said. “You’re always left thinking after a performance, ‘Ah, I could have done that or this differently,’ and to be able to actually come back and put that in action is pretty neat.”
The play features original music by musician Anne Watt’s band, Boister, some of which was created especially for the play. Watt’s grandfather was a producer on Broadway and knew Brecht. That’s how she came across his plays.
“As a musician, she was influenced by his works in drama, and her band had recorded some of the songs featured in the play,” Blann said. “I really liked her versions of the songs, so I contacted her and she was very generous and collaborative. She even offered to write the remaining two melodies for the songs for the show.”
The Good Woman of Szechwan will leave the audience thinking about the situation and the kind of questions the play poses, Magin said.
Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21 and 22 and 2 p.m. Feb. 23 in Theatre Northwest (WTLO 1108).
Admission is free for TCC faculty, staff and students, $3 for senior citizens or non-TCC students and $6 for general admission tickets.
