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Lakeland College Theatre will bring Jane Martin's "Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage" to the Bradley Building stage on March 29-31.
The play will be performed at 8 p.m. each evening at the Bradley Fine Arts Building on Lakeland's campus. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for non-Lakeland students and can be purchased at the door. The play does contain adult language and themes and is not meant for children.
"Flaming Guns" marks the final production of James Crawford, Lakeland's professor of theatre and speech, who is retiring this spring after 30 years with the college's faculty. This production was designed by Lakeland students Eric Brott and David Krueger.
"Jane Martin is by far my favorite modern playwright, even though no one knows who she really is," said Crawford, noting that Lakeland has previously produced two other Martin works - "Keely and Du" and "Middle Aged White Guys."
"This play, unlike the other two, has no real meaning. Martin calls it a 'B Western Horror Flick for the Stage' with good reason. It's like Roy Rogers meets the Night of the Living Dead. But it's also fun to do a play that has no great message, just for the fun of it."
Set in Casper, Wyoming, the play is about Big 8 (Bridget Johnston), a woman who is retired from the rodeo scene and now works to help heal young cowboys who have been injured in accidents. While taking care of a Western-obsessed dreamer named Rob Bob (Joseph Janisch), a rebellious punk named Shedevil (Hannah Lane) stumbles in with a stack of stolen money and Lucifer's unborn son. The ensuing story combines exaggerated Western and horror themes into a comedic play that promises to leave you laughing out loud.
Rounding out the cast is Jessica Keller, Eric Rautmann, Cole Zondag and Jason Kopf.
"Flaming Guns" closes the curtain on the prolific three-decade career of Crawford as the leader of Lakeland's theatre program.
Since joining Lakeland's staff in 1977, there by been 82 productions of full-length plays, 74 of them directed by Crawford and 58 of them designed by Crawford. The remaining eight were directed by students and 24 were designed by students, as Crawford created an atmosphere where students were involved in a hands-on role from start to finish in all aspects of Lakeland's theatre program.
There were also 58 one-act plays produced during Crawford's tenure, and the work of over 60 different playwrights has been brought to Lakeland audiences. Crawford chaired the college's theatre and speech department, founded Lakeland's Early Music Ensemble early in his time at Lakeland and served as advisor to Lakeland's Samurai Action Team in more recent years.
Crawford has a bachelor's degree in English-creative writing and a master's in theatre-directing and playwriting both from the University of Pittsburgh, and a doctorate in theatre and medieval studies from Indiana University. He taught at several stops before coming to Lakeland including the University of Maine and the U.S. Armed Forces Institute while serving in the U.S. Army.
His wife, Lucretia Crawford, is an assistant professor of English at Lakeland, and their son, Ramsay, is currently a student at Lakeland.
Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage comes to Lakeland stage this weekend
Student Life - posted on 3/27/2007
Lakeland College Theatre will bring Jane Martin's "Flaming Guns of the Purple Sage" to the Bradley Building stage on March 29-31. The play will be performed at 8 p.m. each evening at the Bradley Fine Arts Building on Lakeland's campus. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for non-Lakeland students and can be purchased at the door. The play does contain adult language and themes and is not meant for children.
"Flaming Guns" marks the final production of James Crawford, Lakeland's professor of theatre and speech, who is retiring this spring after 30 years with the college's faculty. This production was designed by Lakeland students Eric Brott and David Krueger.
"Jane Martin is by far my favorite modern playwright, even though no one knows who she really is," said Crawford, noting that Lakeland has previously produced two other Martin works - "Keely and Du" and "Middle Aged White Guys."
"This play, unlike the other two, has no real meaning. Martin calls it a 'B Western Horror Flick for the Stage' with good reason. It's like Roy Rogers meets the Night of the Living Dead. But it's also fun to do a play that has no great message, just for the fun of it."
Set in Casper, Wyoming, the play is about Big 8 (Bridget Johnston), a woman who is retired from the rodeo scene and now works to help heal young cowboys who have been injured in accidents. While taking care of a Western-obsessed dreamer named Rob Bob (Joseph Janisch), a rebellious punk named Shedevil (Hannah Lane) stumbles in with a stack of stolen money and Lucifer's unborn son. The ensuing story combines exaggerated Western and horror themes into a comedic play that promises to leave you laughing out loud.
Rounding out the cast is Jessica Keller, Eric Rautmann, Cole Zondag and Jason Kopf.
"Flaming Guns" closes the curtain on the prolific three-decade career of Crawford as the leader of Lakeland's theatre program.
Since joining Lakeland's staff in 1977, there by been 82 productions of full-length plays, 74 of them directed by Crawford and 58 of them designed by Crawford. The remaining eight were directed by students and 24 were designed by students, as Crawford created an atmosphere where students were involved in a hands-on role from start to finish in all aspects of Lakeland's theatre program.
There were also 58 one-act plays produced during Crawford's tenure, and the work of over 60 different playwrights has been brought to Lakeland audiences. Crawford chaired the college's theatre and speech department, founded Lakeland's Early Music Ensemble early in his time at Lakeland and served as advisor to Lakeland's Samurai Action Team in more recent years.
Crawford has a bachelor's degree in English-creative writing and a master's in theatre-directing and playwriting both from the University of Pittsburgh, and a doctorate in theatre and medieval studies from Indiana University. He taught at several stops before coming to Lakeland including the University of Maine and the U.S. Armed Forces Institute while serving in the U.S. Army.
His wife, Lucretia Crawford, is an assistant professor of English at Lakeland, and their son, Ramsay, is currently a student at Lakeland.
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