Crimson and Gold Connection; Dr. Cynthia Allen

Welcome to Crimson and Gold Connection, keeping you connected with the people and current events at Pittsburgh State University. This is the Crimson and Gold Connection on 89.9 KORPS. I'm Fred Fletcher-Fierro. Taking place Thursday, October 18th, through Sunday, October 31st, inside the Dottie and Bill Miller Theatre. At the Big Noel Family Center for the Arts, is Pittsburgh State University's Department of Theatre Production of Cabaret. Joining me this week is the Theatre Departments Longtime Director, Dr. Cynthia Allen. Thank you for joining me this week on the Crimson and Gold Connection. It's nice to be here. For our Crimson and Gold listeners who are unfamiliar with the story of Cabaret and its origins, could you tell us about what makes the story unique and why you think it continues to be performed over 50 years after its premiere? The story of Cabaret is based on Christopher Isherwood's books that he wrote in, well, after he left the Weimar Republic in Germany. He lived in Berlin in 1929, for a while, through 30 into 30.

And it was based on his observations of the nightlife, the people, as he also watched the rise of Nazism and Fascism, and he saw the Third Reich start to come to power. And so he had a really interesting observer's view of what goes on when things change so drastically. I think there are several reasons that the musical Cabaret, which is based back several generations on his stories, is popular, though. First of all, from a musical standpoint, these are the songs and lyrics of John Cander and Fred Ebb, to the most popular musical writers of the 20th century. This was Bob Fossi territory with that same kind of dancing, same kind of style, same kind of glitz as Chicago and a little bit Pippin as well. So they're just very popular. It's a little bit darker musical, so it appeals to adult audiences. It isn't kind of a generic, family-friendly musical style.

I think that's very appealing to people. It's kind of fun to enter the CD Night Club of 1929 Germany, which is where the musical is set. But I also think on a larger scale, we're seeing a lot of productions of Cabaret right now. It's even touring professionally around the country. It's a very, people see it for different political reasons, but I think it's a very important cautionary tale that really is about, see what happens when you're not paying attention. When people just kind of give themselves over to not thinking about anything, there's a character in the play who says, politics, what's that got to do with us? So I think when we get into areas of periods of time where we're fairly divisive or there are a lot of different players with a lot of different agendas on the national scale, Americans in particular can't afford not to pay attention. And that's really what Cabaret is kind of like. There's a lot of people with a lot of agendas that the people might not really want in power can do a lot of insidious things.

And a lot of things can change almost without you seeing them in front of you because you're just so busy not paying attention to it. I'm speaking with director of theater, Dr. Cynthia Allen about Pittsburgh State's production of Cabaret taking place October 18th through the 21st at the Bignal Family Center for the Arts. I want to note both Saturday and Sunday there are many performances starting at 2 p.m. Who are some of the names of the students playing the lead role in Cabaret? Well, we have an interesting production. It's during homecoming week. So some of the students that ordinarily would have auditioned were caught up with the band or with the dance team or other things that were going on. And so we were able to draw upon a really strong alumni pool. So we have a great range of students from freshmen all the way through alumni who have been out a few years teaching and doing very professional productions in other places. We have MJ Harper, who was last seen in PCT's production of Sister Act. She's an alumni. Kimberly Arzoian, also alumni of Pitt State plays Frauline Schneider.

We have a new freshman, Carl Wittenberg, who is playing Cliff, the young American who goes to Berlin and to try to inspire himself to write his first great novel. And he's the one who obviously makes all observations upon which Cabaret is then based. And we have some great dancers. We have J. Lee Hoyt, Tori Whalen, a new freshman as well, Josh Ramsey, Michael Rodriguez is in it as well. There are about 20 people in it in the play. And we're really fortunate to have really good freshmen all the way up through alumni that have been out for a decade or more. That must feel good to have alumni come back to Pittsburgh State and be able to take part in this professionally. I mean, these are these are former students of yours, right?

Some of them were former students of mine. Some of them were actually graduated before I took over the program. But they really like this show and they were really excited to get to come back to Pitt State and do something, especially in the Miller Theater. Because for most of them who graduated, we didn't have the BICNOL when they were here. So this is fun for them to be on stage at the BICNOL and be part of Pitt State Theater in that regard. Thank you for stopping by this morning. Absolutely. Thank you very much. And I just want to remind people of a couple of things. First of all, we don't. There's not a separate theater department. Theater is part of the Department of Communication. And that's where we're all part of and Pitt State Theater is open to any faculty and staff on campus to participate in. And that's also what makes it so exciting for us. And the other thing, since we are in the Miller in this great little nightclub venue and there are only 250 seats, I would encourage people to please get their tickets ahead of time. If you wait to come the night, there will probably be some tickets available, but lines will be longer and you stand a chance of not being able to get a ticket.

I'm Fred Fletcher, Fiero, and you've been listening to the Crimson and Gold Connection, a production of 89 K-R-P-S. Join us for Crimson and Gold Connection Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350. Action Wednesdays at 8.50 and Fridays at 350.