Gossip and truth the focus of Goshen College spring mainstage, March 28-April 6

GOSHEN, Ind. – Do any of us ever have a complete knowledge of the truth? This is the focus of the Goshen College Theater Department’s spring mainstage play “Absolutely! {perhaps},” by Luigo Pirandello and adapted by Martin Sherman. Directed by Professor of Theater Doug Liechty Caskey, the production is scheduled for March 28 and April 4, 5 at 8 p.m. and March 29, 30 and April 6 at 3 p.m. in Umble Center.

The Goshen College Theater Department is staging one of the first U.S. amateur productions of this 2003 adaptation of a play written nearly a century ago.

As inhabitants of a small village on the Italian island of Sardinia are attempting to understand the new family of strangers who recently moved to town, one of the main characters chastises the residents for their intrusive curiosity and gossip-mongering when he asks, “What on earth can we ever know about anybody else? Do you think we know, really know, who other people are, or what they are, or what they do, or why?”

In response to this a character says, “But you can find out little things, little bits of information…” And therein lies the driving force of this dark comedy as the townspeople hunger for every tidbit of “breaking news” in an attempt to understand the unusual behaviors of the newest residents who have arrived in Sardinia with no recorded past or clear documentation of who they really are.

“Just when the audience believes they have the mystery solved and the clear truth exposed, a twist of new information casts a ‘perhaps’ on the situation, and the world must find its orientation again,” said Liechty Caskey.

Luigi Pirandello, the Italian playwright, spent much of his life as caretaker for a wife on the brink of insanity and a daughter with similar tendencies. His writing of plays and short stories, consistently focusing on the close dance between reality and illusion, won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1934. “Pirandello takes the reality/illusion question even further by asking if we can ever truly know the person staring back at us in the mirror,” said Liechty Caskey.

Of the 20 cast members, this is the first college mainstage performance for 15 of them. In the cast: senior Mike Honderich (Goshen), junior Ellen McCrae (Lakewood, Colo.), junior Gina Stutzman (Battle Creek, Mich.), first-year Ryan Hallman (Lancaster, Pa.), first-year Andrea Kraybill (Elkhart, Ind.), first-year Brian Waidelich (Wauseon, Ohio), junior Grace Eidmann (Antioch, Ill.), first-year Patrick Maxwell (Boxborough, Mass.), sophomore Molly Kellogg (Candor, N.Y.), sophomore Jacob Schlabach (Saint Paul, Minn.), junior Deanne Binde (Lake Park, Minn.), first-year Lucas Nafziger (Goshen), Dan Stutzman (Goshen), sophomore Beth Glick (Goshen), first-year Charlotte Barnett (Goshen), first-year Eileen Hilty (Peoria, Ariz.), first-year Cassie Kimmel (Danville, Ind.), first-year Leah Moreno (Houston, Texas), first-year John Munley (Mundelein, Ill.) and first-year David Nyce (Millbury, Mass.).

In the crew: Director and Producer Doug Liechty Caskey, Assistant Director Angie Noah, Technical Director Jerry Peters, Stage Manager Kristina Mast, Set Designer Erin Bontrager, Costume Designer Adrienne Nesbitt, Light Designer Doug Hallman, Sound Designer Derek Koch, Props Coordinator Meghan Hoover, Hair & Make-Up Meg Kennell, Poster/program design Chet Franklin, Technical Director Assistant Deanne Binde, Technical Director Assistant Patrick Ressler, Assistant Stage Manager Eileen Hilty, Master Carpenters Lindsy Glick and Ben Jacobs, Master Electricians Doug Hallman and Alison Brookins, Costume Shop Manager Angie Noah, Costumers Jenni Miller, Make-Up/Hair Dressers Cassie Kimmel and Deanne Binde, Light Board Operator Doug Hallman and Sound Board Operator Taylor Stansberry.

Umble Center is accessible to wheelchairs and people with other physical limitations.

Tickets cost $8 for general admission and $5 for students and senior citizens. They can be reserved by calling the Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mailing welcomecenter@goshen.edu.

Editors: Photographers can take play preview photos on Tuesday, March 25 at 7 p.m. in Umble Center during rehearsal. Call Doug Liechty Caskey to confirm at (574) 535-7393.

For more information about this release or to arrange an interview, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.