In Spoon River, Amy Morgan and Harry Laverty play a deceased couple that failed to feel the love when they were alive.

JHUT serves up another winner with Spoon River

By: Christina Warner

Posted: 4/30/09

Sitting in the Merrick Barn while waiting for Johns Hopkins University Theatre (JHUT)'s production of Spoon River Anthology, one may have felt a certain sense of déjà vu. Similar to the most recent production of Under Milk Wood, the chairs were placed in a staggered fashion on the stage. The resemblance continued when the actors finally made their way on stage after a 20-minute sing-a-long with guitarist Ian Roush (Peabody Conservatory).

Other than simple superficial similarities, such as the use of the same denim skirts for the female cast members, there were even more similarities in the actors themselves. The majority of the cast starred in Under Milk Wood as well. This, however, is not particularly noteworthy as it is not unusual for Hopkins's students to reappear in multiple theater productions over the course of a school year.

However, it should be recognized that several of the actors seemed to inhabit the same types of characters that were portrayed in Under Milk Wood. Each play featured a close look at the people in a town and as such, each cast member portrayed multiple characters. As Spoon River progressed, there was a marked change in this typecasting among the actors. But in the beginning, it almost seemed as if I was watching slightly different version of Under Milk Wood.

These similarities aside, Spoon River was yet another of JHUT's fantastic productions. Through a fusion of music and storytelling, the play told the stories of individuals linked by the common bond of all being buried in the same cemetery.

With the exception of a few tombstones scattered on the stage, this plot didn't make the play unnecessarily macabre. Oftentimes, a character would reveal how he or she died, but even with that, the general tone was not depressing.

Instead, the more obvious tone was a patriotic one. References to Abraham Lincoln infused the play with a sense of nationalism. This can be traced back to the origins of the Spoon River Anthology which was originally a collection of free-verse poems published in 1915 by Edgar Lee Masters. Masters focused on the lives and deaths of these previous inhabitants of Spoon River in order to focus on the heritage of our nation.

Much like an anthology would be organized, the play jumped around from character to character, intent on telling their stories or something particularly poignant about their lives. Each of the characters was painted in a relatively colorful light and their stories ranged from comical to pensive to the aforementioned patriotic tone.

The music that was either the central focus of the scene onstage or merely played in the background was one of the highlights of the play. The guitar by Roush was phenomenal, as is to be expected from a Peabody student, but even something as simple as Mack Astin whistling the tune of a song was poignant. Every cast member sang as members of the chorus, but some performed impressive solos.

Kristina Madarang (sophomore) sang several remarkable solos; however, the most amusing one by far was a song she sang with Harry Laverty (sophomore). In the song, the two portrayed a married couple who were quibbling over the wife's suspicious actions, to which she always had an excuse and in doing so, concealed her affair. However, secrets can only be kept so long and eventually her husband found out, which lead to her internment in Spoon River cementery.

Christie Pridgen (junior) and Jenn Walton (freshman) shared a mainly a cappella duet that was perhaps the most powerful musical piece of the production. Walton's alto voice combined perfectly with Pridgen's voice to create a sensational song.

Other than her exceptional voice, Walton also proved her talent for portraying a wide variety of characters without seeming repetitive. Both she and Robert Powers (sophomore) crafter characters that were far from mimetic representations of characters they had played in Under Milk Wood. Each time one of the two took center stage, it could be expected that the audience would encounter a personality that they had not seen before.

However, it was not the singular talent of a few actors in the ensemble that made Spoon River a success. It was, instead, the combined effort of the many actors that made this performance one worth watching.

While Spoon River seemed to be too similar to be debuted merely a month after the production of Under Milk Wood, JHUT continued their streak of remarkable plays. The simplicity of it was refreshing and the songs combined with the storytelling-esque delivery of dialogue created a powerful show. It was at once poignant and comedic, and it was the actor's talent that achieved this balance.