Asst. A&E Editor 14.5

Staying in touch with her art, Sarah Blackstone will be directing the comedic and romantic Arcadia when it makes its debut at 8 p.m. Friday in McLeod Theater.

After researching the play’s author and its media reviews, Blackstone says that the play has a lot of potential.

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It’s a simple love story, Blackstone, chairwoman of the Theater Department, said. Here, time is this mutable thing. Human beings are connected across time.

Written by famous playwright Tom Stoppard, Arcadia takes place in a historical garden in the past as well as in the present.

The garden in which the main characters lived has been changing since 1809. The play is about a researcher who is studying these people and their pasts.

McLeod Theater will be transformed into the garden, both on-stage and off. Blackstone plans to overflow the seating area with live plants.

Blackstone said she chose the play because it is a thoughtful production.

I did this because it is appropriate to put on for the University, she said. It’s a sophisticated play. It has an intellectual side to it for students and faculty.

The cast of 14 actors and actresses, including a live turtle, has been rehearsing for six weeks. Blackstone said performing in the 1800-style costumes is an encompassing but exciting task for the cast.

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The costumes are a fun challenge for our actors to work in a period style, she said. Men are in high collars with ruffles at the neck and cutaway coats. The women have the fitted-at-the-top corsets and free-flowing, long skirts.

Designing the costumes was not the only difficult part of the play’s preparation.

Gene Bibey, a fourth-year doctoral student in theater from Murphysboro, said combining the complex elements of the play were rigorous as well. With a limited amount of rehearsal time, the cast has blended a mix of stimulation and comedy.

It’s a complicated show, Bibey said. And it’s hard to combine the two (stimulation and comedy) and have a successful play. We have a very experienced cast, and we only had four weeks to mount this production.

Bibey did not want to give away the play, but elaborated a bit on his character, Chater.

He’s a bad poet, Bibey said. Chater is part of the past that the people in the present are to determine.

Bibey said the strong cast managed to pull off a hard act.

What’s so unique is that it’s intellectual and funny as well, he said. Considering it takes place in two time periods, I feel like we’re on top of it.

Blackstone agrees that the play is cleverly funny. But she adds that it is not a Jim Carrey-type comedy.

It’s sentimentally witty, but it’s not roll-in-the-aisle kind of funny, she said. If you like (Jerry) Seinfeld, you’ll like this.

Arcadia will be performed Friday and Saturday, as well as Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. All these shows will be at 8 p.m. And on Oct. 12, there will be a show at 2 p.m. Adult tickets are $10 and student tickets are $5. For more information call the McLeod Theater box office at 453-3001.