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(12/04/92 10:00am)
Nine dynamic actors flaunted their talent in last night's opening production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi in Annenberg Center's Studio Theatre. Belonging to a category of plays known as "revenge tragedies, The Duchess of Malfi revolves around murder as revenge for murder. By the play's end, six of the nine actors have been killed. At the opening of the play, the widowed duchess is warned by her tyrannical twin brothers -- for reasons unstated -- not to remarry. Her defiance of their demands leads to her subsequent persecution and death, as well as the death of those who plotted her murder. Despite the tremendous number of lines that had to be memorized -- the play ran for three hours -- the actors appear extremely comfortable and confident in their roles. The greatest strength of the performance is the cast's uninhibited outpouring of emotion. The actors arouse feelings of anger, melancholy, injustice and passion. As the Duchess, College senior Emily Helstrom is self-assured and bold, standing firm against her brothers up until the moment she accepts death. Playing the leading role of Duke Ferdinand, College senior Jeffrey Coon gives a powerful performance throughout the production. In the scene following his sister's murder, Coon assumes the convincing persona of a seething madman, wraught with guilt and melancholy. He does not hesitate to howl, scream, fall or fumble, making use of the entire stage. The actors are not remiss in creating sexual tension either. The lustful Julia, played by College senior Alanna Medlock, turns up the heat in the theatre when she passionately seduces her lover, the minister. College and Wharton senior Seth Shulman provides the play with both a tragic and humorous element in his dynamic role of Bosola, the murderer hired to kill the duchess. The nine actors remain on the stage at all times, even after their characters' deaths. The few props and costume changes are used to indicate the different roles the ensemble plays. Lighting is used to indicate changes in scene. The single backdrop portrays a white unicorn trapped in a wooden pen. The containment of this rare, mythical beast alludes to the imprisonment of the duchess -- within the confines of wooden chairs -- subsequent to her defiance of her brothers. Although the play ends in tragedy, the audience cannot help but leave the theater feeling empowered by the actors' genuine and empassioned performance. The Duchess of Malfi will be performed tonight and tomorrow and next Thursday through Saturday. Tickets will be sold on Locust Walk.
(12/03/92 10:00am)
Gender, sexuality, power, defiance and death are just some of the themes in the new Theater Arts production of The Duchess of Malfi, which opens tonight. John Webster's 17th Century play explores the struggle of the woman to gain physical and psychological autonomy in a society dominated by tyrannical men. The play centers around a young widow whose two aristocratic brothers do not want her to remarry. The duchess defies the demands of her brothers, who subsequently persecute her. Director Cary Mazer, an associate English professor, said that the objective of the performance is both to educate and entertain. "The play ties together the student's classwork and their individualized study," Theater Arts Chairperson Mazer said. "It is appropriate for [the actors] talents and stage of development." Four of the nine actors are writing their senior theses on English Renaissance playwriting, including College senior Jeffrey Coon who said his independent study discusses how The Dutchess of Malfi was first performed in England. "I am researching how its themes of female sexuality and male dominance are pertinent in today's society," Coon said. Mazer said he selected this play because he considers Webster's playwriting equal in dramatic power and language to that of Shakespeare's. "The play is widely studied in English and Theatre Arts classes, but has had few stagings in the United States," Mazer said. "This is a rare opportunity to work on a play of such high caliber dramatic writing." The Dutchess of Malfi will be performed tonight through Saturday and next weekend at 8 p.m. in the Annenberg Center's Studio Theatre. Tickets are available on Locust Walk.
(12/01/92 10:00am)
Working in the Family Planning Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, medical student Jane Sharp gained insight into the values, motivations and beliefs behind the sexual activity of women and teens in West Philadelphia. A second-year student at the University's Medical School, Sharp plans to practice women's health care when she graduates. Her participation in the two-year-old Community Health Summer Internship Program afforded her a hands-on opportunity to assess the issues regarding female sexuality and reproduction in inner cities. Initiated in the summer of 1991 by medical students Cindy Weinbaum and Steve Chapman, the Community Health Summer Internship Program allows students between their first and second years of medical school to become more familiar with the medical needs and problems in their community. The University's Med School curriculum requires that students spend the majority of their time in the classroom. But there is only so much one can learn from a textbook. Chapman said he thinks that students aspiring to be physicians need more opportunities to practice primary care in the community. "Students come to medical school because they feel an obligation to help their community," Chapman said. "We can learn a lot more working with teenage mothers than with mice." "The program allows students to realize that problems are not insurmountable," said Lucy Tuton, a faculty coordinator. "This hands-on opportunity can make an impact on the problems in the community." The students learn more from their hands-on involvement in the community than they do working in the laboratory, Sharp said. Sharp said she learned that the teenage pregnancy epidemic in West Philadelphia is not entirely due to ignorance and lack of resources. "The male/female conceptualization of sexuality and parenthood are also significant factors," Sharp said. Student Co-coordinator Mikhail Sekeres said he believes that medical students play a unique role in their communities. Sekeres said that students know medicine but have not been in the medical community long enough to be tainted by the cynicism of medical professionals. "We still have the naive attitude that we can change the world," Sekeres said. "The public trusts medical students more than professionals to provide them with health care benefits." The internship program also allows students to expand on work done under existing University projects. Under the guidance of Director of Community Partnerships Ira Harkavy, founder of the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps, Med School student Seth Mandel continued the undergraduate work he started at Turner Middle School. Mandel's spent last summer educating adolescents about preventive health measures regarding hypertension and diabetes. "The students learned that they can't live like they're immortal," Mandel said. "In order to prevent getting sick, they would have to do something about it at an early age." In 1991, 18 students from the Med School participated in the program. Last summer was the first time the University had full collaboration with the Philadelphia College of Medicine, Hahnemann University and the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. The collaborative effort focuses on medical ethnography. In the study, the students investigate how West Philadelphia and Germantown residents view medicine so that they can appropriately address the community's health needs. Students and faculty said they hope to extend the program to Temple University and the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine next summer. By volunteering in homeless shelters, soup kitchens, housing projects, health centers, summer camps and schools, the interns learned which resources -- medical, recreational, educational and social -- were available outside a hospital setting. "Learning about the community's resources early on in their medical careers is a vital part of medical students' educations in terms of individual knowledge and patient care," Sarah Sadaah, 1992 student co-coordinator, said. On November 30, the students will have an opportunity to exhibit what they learned and accomplished over the summer. Each student will present a three foot by six foot poster summarizing their efforts and results. The poster presentation will be held on the second floor hall of the John Morgan building and is open to the general public.
