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NEWS
American Western to premiere at Constans
By Carly Blustein, "The Independent Florida Alligator"
UF Alumnus Neal Utterback
may not have written the great American novel, but he recently took a
stab at creating the great American play.
With American Western,
Utterback strove to write a western for the stage that depicted his own
ambivalence toward the United States.
"There is so much I love
about this country and so much that makes me terribly angry," Utterback
said. "I would like to believe that everyone is at least out to do the
right thing, but we live in such a violent and chaotic world that it
seems like someone must be doing the wrong thing."
American Western,
which is making its world premiere tomorrow, is a contemporary story set
against the backdrop of the war in Iraq and the homosexual civil rights
movement in the United States.
It tells the story of
Patrick Flynn, a young American sergeant who never got to tell his own
story because his life was tragically cut short while stationed in Iraq.
What unravels is a mixture of drama and comedy.
For director Kevin
Marshall, the heartbreak of a family's loss over a deceased soldier is
close to his heart. His son recently returned from Iraq after a second
year-long deployment.
"When I read the script a
year ago, I thought it would be almost irrelevant today," said Marshall,
regarding the war's role in the story. "Unfortunately, it's still very
current."
Marshall decided to direct
the play because he felt that it was one of the most unique scripts he
has read in a while. He was reluctant to disclose too much of the plot
because it is designed to be suspenseful.
"It doesn't offer a lot of
answers, but it does pose a lot of questions," Marshall said.
What makes it even more
exciting is the phenomenal cast, including David Shelton, who has been a
large part of UF theater for 33 years. This play is special to him
because Utterback was his former student. Shelton plays a ghost from
1846 in the Old West whose spirit cannot rest until the full story of
Patrick Flynn's life is revealed.
"It's very contemporary,"
said Shelton. "People will like it because it's about right now,
something we can all relate to."
American Western
opens at the Constans Theatre on Friday. Tickets are $9 for UF students
and $13 for the general public. Visit
www.union.ufl.edu/ubo for a
schedule of the performances.
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