“Come with your eyes open, your ears open, your mind open.”
Senior Aaron Pomerantz, Publicity Manager for Sage Center, hopes that tonight’s production will challenge and engage Hillsdale students. The acting company, Los Angeles Theatre Works, will be bringing “In the Heat of the Night” to Hillsdale’s Markel Auditorium stage at 8 p.m.
The play is set in the 1960s South, dealing with the racial problems therein. According to Ruth Sanders, Aide to the Sage Center, the company has modified the scripted language for its Hillsdale audience.
“They had to clean up the language a little bit,” Sanders said, “since it’s coming to Hillsdale. The actors and actresses are aware of the constraints here. There will be some tough language, but certain words were removed.”
The play is not deliberately controversial, but simply honest and direct in its treatment of the circumstances of the time. Michael Beyer, Lighting Designer and Production Manager, noted that it’s simply trying to tell a story.
“It’s based on a novel, based on a movie, and based on actual events,” Beyer said. “It’s the same kind of thing that happened in history. It shouldn’t be purposefully racial.”
But Pomerantz said that the sensitive topic could serve as a useful way to begin a conversation about contemporary racial problems.
A play about prejudice might make a Hillsdale audience really uncomfortable, which is good,” Pomerantz said. “This is an ethnically homogeneous school and this is not an ethnically homogeneous play. I think it’s going to leave people questioning themselves more than they might have expected, going in.”
The production has just recently come out of the rehearsal process: Hillsdale is only the second stop on LA Theatre Works’ national tour. The company has been to Hillsdale’s campus before, its most recent visit being a 2011 production.
The college booked the performance in January 2014, but was not aware of the cast — most of whom are involved in major television and film projects.
“There were things about the production that we did not know until a few weeks ago,” Sanders said. “We knew that they would be doing ‘In the Heat of the Night,’ but did not know the cast members.”
Hillsdale students within and without the theatre department have a unique opportunity this evening to enjoy the experience and talent of a professional acting company.
Though the entire cast has had extensive theatre experience, some members have been involved with widely recognizable projects: For instance, Tom Virtue has acted in such television shows as Even Stevens, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Charmed, as well as the movie, Iron Man 3. Another cast member, Travis Johns, has appeared on several television series, including Nip/Tuck and The Mentalist.
“It’s a rare treat for a college of this size,” Sanders said.
The production will be staged at 8 p.m. tonight in Markel Auditorium, Sage Center for the Arts.
