By Kelli Smith 11.5

The search began early this summer for a tortoise, which is the tie that binds centuries together in Arcadia. Sarah Blackstone, the play’s director and chairwoman of the Theater Department, says the live tortoise would add a needed quality to play.

Even though Blackstone has enlisted the help of the SIUC Zoology Department and local pet stores, a search for the reptile has been unfruitful.

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I saw a production of the play in St. Louis. They used a concrete turtle, and I hated it, Blackstone said. There has to be one (a live tortoise) out there somewhere.

The script calls for a tortoise, which is a large land reptile typically found in extremely dry climate with a rounded shell similar to that of a box turtle.

The tortoise is instrumental to the production and will remain on stage for the entire production, despite the changing of time between 1807 and the present. The tortoise is a symbol of the things that remain constant throughout time.

The Theater Department is willing to use a box turtle in the event that no tortoise is available.

Beth Burke, a graduate student in zoology from Lisle, foresees more difficulties in finding a tortoise because they have to be captive bred and are only located in the western portion of the United States and overseas.

They’re not common pets, Burke said. There aren’t any in the state. So you’re not just going to pick one up and keep it at your house.

The Theater Department will use a toy Donatello of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as the prop backup if a live tortoise or box turtle is not found by the Oct. 3 opening night.

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It would make the whole thing more believable to have a live tortoise, said Nikki Battalini, a senior in technical theater from Chicago, who is working on the production.

The cast of the play said that any animal lent to the department will be well taken care of, and the animal and its owner will be credited in the program.

Free tickets will be provided for anyone who comes forward to volunteer their tortoise or box turtle, Blackstone said, if it is actually used.

If anyone has a tortoise that could be borrowed for the play, call Sarah Blackstone at 453-7593.