- By Dan Veaner
- Entertainment
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First up was "The Lottery." Written by Shirley Jackson more than a half century ago, the play portrays an "average" New England town that mindlessly continues the tradition of a lottery without challenging the reasons for holding it. Unlike modern lotteries with their enormous rewards, the "winner" of this lottery is stoned to death. The author said of her play that it is "a graphic dramatization of the pointless violence and general inhumanity in their own lives."
In a clever piece of casting Shawn Hathaway, apparently one of the youngest members of the troupe, was cast as the oldest member of the town, Old Man Warner, who is the most outspoken advocate for continuing the brutal tradition. Andy Lockwood also stood out as the husband of the loser, played by Kim Garnett. He managed to portray a youthful eagerness to fit in no matter what, while also showing his despair at losing his outspoken wife. An irony in the play is that the lottery's most outspoken critic is also the one who is killed by it.
"The Lottery" is a good choice for young actors, because the script is so strong it carries the play even when the actors do not. This gave the Lansing troupe room to explore the theme, perhaps a bit at the expense of character. But overall the production worked well, all the way to its hair raising end.
Act Two was Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster." The play was based on a short story the author published in 1937. Webster was a statesman who was famous for being an outstanding orator, so great that people said he could win a debate with the Devil. In 1841 he became President Harrison's Secretary of State, and this is the period the play takes place in.
The play is about Jabez Stone, a successful farmer and statesman in New Hampshire. Webster, as a fellow New Hampshire statesman is a guest at his wedding. So is "Mr. Scratch," who has something else in mind. Scratch is the Devil, come to take payment on the contract Stone signed years earlier. Webster can't stand by while a fellow New Hampshirite is in trouble, so he takes the Devil to court.
Against all odds Webster gets his client off, even though the judge is Justice Hawthorne, who oversaw the infamous witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, and the jury is a scraggly collection of dead fiends.
This script gave the troupe a chance to have fun with their characters. Will Hicks' Mr. Scratch was played just right. His choice to underplay the role with a toneful, insinuating voice gave the Devil a scary power that nearly stole the show. Alyssa Wasenko played a hysterical court clerk, a Puckish portrayal with a "The Exorcist" voice from Hell.
Joshua Darfler gave his Daniel Webster a pomposity that made his willingness to take on the Devil himself believable. Brendan Hammond portrayed the bedeviled Jabez Sone with an almost Elmer Fudd-like bewilderment, an innocent who was carried forward into a situation that was beyond his ability to cope. Katie Bruno played the steadfast wife, believing in her husband no matter what, and determined to stick to her minutes-old wedding vows.
The story has such appeal that it was also made into an opera, as well as a motion picture. The ghostly jurors in the Lansing production were used in the fashion of the ancient Greek chorus, yet the actors made their individual characters were distinct. And it was believable when Webster appealed to their lost humanity and the audience saw the jury swayed.
All in all, if you ever have an encounter with the Devil you'll want Lansing's Daniel Webster on your side. It didn't disappoint.
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