{"id":2238,"date":"2015-09-17T08:04:52","date_gmt":"2015-09-17T12:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=2238"},"modified":"2015-09-17T08:04:52","modified_gmt":"2015-09-17T12:04:52","slug":"dramacentre-brings-alum-adaptation-of-moby-dick-to-the-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2015\/09\/17\/dramacentre-brings-alum-adaptation-of-moby-dick-to-the-stage\/","title":{"rendered":"DramaCentre brings alum adaptation of “Moby Dick” to the stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY CHANDLER GARLAND – STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this fall\u2019s family weekend play, the DramaCentre selected an adaptation of Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick<\/em> written and directed by Centre alumnus Ian Frank. Frank graduated from Centre College in 2004 with a degree in Dramatic Arts and then went on to receive an M.F.A. in Directing from the Theatre School at DePaul University.<\/p>\n

There, Frank began to work on his adaptation as part of a project within the graduate program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to go after the more of the adventure in the story with some sprinklings of the metaphysical and the philosophical,\u201d Frank said.<\/p>\n

He decided to come back to his alma mater as a way to experience teaching and reconnected with the drama department through his friend and former teacher, Professor of Dramatic Arts Matthew Hallock.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I got my MFA I asked myself, \u2018Do I want to teach someday, and how do I get into that?\u2019 My connection with Matthew Hallock was really great for that,\u201d Frank said. \u201cWe talked about it last season, but our schedules just didn\u2019t line up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frank\u2019s adaptation is proving to be a great choice. He is popular with cast members, including senior Taylee Wells who plays the character of Ishmael.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love working with Ian,\u201d she said. \u201cHe is so kind and patient with us which has to be a challenge for him in a room full of 15 balls of energy. He does a great job of communicating what he expects out of us. It\u2019s also cool to see someone who was in our shoes a few years ago making a living in a field that we all love as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who haven\u2019t read Moby Dick<\/em>, the story follows a young sailor, Ishmael (Wells) as he ventures out to sea with the crew of the Pequod<\/em> and their captain, Ahab (played by Charles T. Hazelrigg Professor of Dramatic Arts Patrick Kagan-Moore).<\/p>\n

The original novel upon which the production is based is what the literary world calls an encyclopedic novel, which means that . Moby Dick<\/em> is just as much about whaling as it is about Ishmael. Its dense and complex nature lends it to be a hard novel totough read, but under all the terms and instructions of the whaling profession lays lies an adventure story of philosophy and the sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way you do an encyclopedic novel in a two hour play,\u201d Frank said. \u201cThe nature of the book is such that you couldn\u2019t make it into a play unless it was something like 15 hours long. The goal of this adaptation is to knock dust off expectations about what this book is: ultimately about a guy going on an adventure that changes his life forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

To aid Frank\u2019s vision of simplifying the novel, this version of Moby Dick <\/em>will be performed in the style of minimalism. The production will stray away from typical DramaCentre fare with the set, costumes and props done in very simple ways. In doing this, Frank hopes to \u201cinspire people to read [the novel] or for people that tried to go back [to it].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re stripping it back so the most exciting things come to the surface and the imagination fills in the rest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Frank\u2019s adaption promises to rely heavily on movement and action to help aid this excitement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really love the physicality of this play. We run and jump, fight and so much more,\u201d Wells said.<\/p>\n

Moby Dick<\/em> also marks Dr. Kagan-Moore\u2019s first time acting in a big production in 15 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first time in about 25 years that I don\u2019t have a kid in the Danville school system that I have to take to school and pick up everyday,\u201d Dr. Kagan-Moore said. \u201cI have a certain amount of flexibility and time that I wouldn\u2019t have had before so when I was asked to play the role of Ahab I said, \u2018Yes,\u2019 and auditioned and was cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

So who will enjoy this swashbuckling production?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s absolutely for college students in 2015,\u201d Frank said. \u201cIt\u2019s not for professors to come and stroke their beards and think about. It\u2019s to get the students fired up about this whole world of literature, and art, and philosophy that maybe they don\u2019t feel like they have a way into, and we are going to Mad Max<\/em> our way into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wells shares Frank\u2019s enthusiasm for the production, opening Sept. 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super excited to see people\u2019s reactions,\u201d Wells said. \u201cThis is going to be unlike any play they\u2019ve seen at Centre, and I really think people are going to feel like they\u2019re on Pequod<\/em> with us!\u201d<\/p>\n

Moby Dick<\/em> will run Sept. 16-19 beginning at 8 p.m. each night in Weisiger Theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY CHANDLER GARLAND – STAFF WRITER For this fall\u2019s family weekend play, the DramaCentre selected an adaptation of Herman Melville\u2019s Moby Dick written and directed by Centre alumnus Ian Frank. Frank graduated from Centre College in 2004 with a degree in Dramatic Arts and then went on to receive an M.F.A. in Directing from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-leisure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}