Like Barney, but better

-Katie Meisel

Dinosaurs, Noah’s Ark, the Ice Age and Marilyn Monroe converge in one of  the craziest plays to ever take the Black Box Theater stage. Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth premiered Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and will run again Nov. 15-17. Usually the theater department would be working on its second production by now, but they are doing things a bit differently this year. Because of the shortened semester, Michael Harlan, the theater program’s head director, decided to put extra time and effort into one play and show it over two weekends instead of two plays for one weekend each. Senior Caitlin Bryson, who plays Gladys, says the change “gives us more time to focus on the show, to make it even better [and] to put more depth into our characters.”

Directed by Harlan and starring some well-seasoned actors such as junior Robyn Barber, senior Colin Scully and senior Gracie Bowden, the show is an hour and 40 minutes of dinosaur-packed entertainment. Supporting cast members include junior Peter Reidy, Caitlin Bryson, senior Christina Kozlowski, junior Jackson Wimberly and senior John Hume. Gracie, who also appeared in The Enchanted and Wild Honey, said this play is “...a whole lot weirder. The characters are more over the top, the set’s more abstract, and there’re dinosaurs.”

The play itself is an original re-interpretation of time and human perceptions of its flow. The story covers a family’s life throughout the ice age, the great flood and World War I.  Harlan hopes the show will give the audience some good laughs and maybe a few slightly more serious subjects to think about.

Substitute Talena Martinez is filling in for Technical Director Becky White, who is on maternity leave. Senior Alex Van Bavel is the Stage Manager and senior Matt Bell is the Production Manager.

The theater department will also be performing Alice in Wonderland as their children’s show for the elementary schools, which will run during the day Nov. 19-20, with a 7 p.m. performance Monday, Nov 19.