Harold Goldstein
After 50 years, the Pierce College Theatre Arts Department kicks off their anniversary celebration with the opening night performance of Golden Encore. But is the performance truly golden or just a block of lead? This being the Theater Arts Department’s 50th anniversary, Golden Encore is more than a normal performance. With the help from Pierce students, faculty and local visitors, the theatrical directors were able to pick out specific scenes of various plays that were flexible for certain cast members to come back and play their associated roles. “Most of the plays were audience favorites,” said Cynthia Stults, Pierce student currently working as an actress. “(Also,) a lot of it had to do with which actors were able to come back and do different roles.” The production was split into two acts containing plays of certain theatrical genres that once graced the Pierce Theatre. The first act ranged from William Shakespeare and Children’s Theatre (“Hamlet”, “Peter Pan”) to Classic Plays and Musicals (“Of Mice and Men”, “My Fair Lady”). The second act had a more mature nature with genres ranging from Controversial Plays and Contemporary Playwrights (“Master Harold and the Boys”, “The Heidi Chronicles”) to Comedy (“Noises Off”). For a finishing touch, a brief history, stringing the plays together, was featured about Eugene Francis Dow, a former English professor at Pierce who created the Theatre Department, and how the Theatre Arts Department was created from a small bungalow to being molded to what it is today.The atmosphere inside the theatre was nice and homey. While the audience were waiting for the production to start, three musicians, a drummer, bass player and pianist who also played background music for the production, helped the time pass by with calming jazz music. With each play, the actors did not miss a beat with their performances even though they had to jump in and out of many different characters. In certain areas, however, rehearsing felt a bit lagging and some of the actors did look a bit stiff when playing their associated roles.The music was superb. With just three musicians, the different atmospheres of each play were done well to get the audience into the overall mood. The lighting was also good but did skip a second or two confusing actors on when they should start their act. During the second act, one scene from the play “Master Harold and the Boys” stood out masterfully among all the others. The scene deals with two black slaves who verbally fight back against their white master in the portrayal of a bratty British teenager. What made the scene so good was of the portrayal of what the black people had to deal with when their masters abused and tortured them. With this being a momentous occasion, the Theatre Arts Department wanted to do more than to create a small, singular play to celebrate their anniversary. “Our theatre manager came to me and said ‘it’s our anniversary. Can we do something other than a normal play?'” said RoZsa Horvath, teacher of Theater Arts and director of Golden Encore. “And I said, ‘Sure! I’ll do it.’ (Since then,) I’ve been working on it pretty much all summer and now.” Recurring Pierce students and Pierce alumni, a total of 37 actors who had acted in various plays at Pierce once before, had come back to replay their original roles from past performances. “Out of Pierce, I’m an extras actor.” Said Arcinio White, a psychology major at Pierce. “So I’m an extra on certain sets of movies and stuff like that. I just try to work on the Theatre so I could get better and hopefully, become a union actor.” Few actors were not Pierce students at all, but rather came upon the college by means of advertisements. “The first time I ever went to Pierce was due to Noises Off,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, have been and currently working in the Accounts Payable department of a national company. “I was driving down Victory Boulevard one day and all of a sudden, I saw a big billboard outside that said ‘Auditions: Noises Off’. And I speeded home, dialed the number, got the information and been part of this ever since.” Overall, the performance did have some things that were in need of improvement but on the stage, it shone like a newly printed gold coin. Golden Encore will be playing through Oct. 26-Nov. 4 with ticket costs ranging from $12 for students and seniors to $15 for general admission.