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Emily Toman, editorfeatures-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

Scene is published Tuesday.

rememberCheck out Thursday’s Pulse for a

review of Watchmen, the graphic novel-turned movie opening Friday.

The ShorThorn

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Page 5

They’re talking funny in the Theatre Arts department these days. not funny for the deep South, perhaps, but funny for Ar-

lington.For the past five weeks, students have spent

their weekday evenings practicing southern drawls, folk dances and bluegrass music for the spring musical, The Robber Bridegroom. They will show off their newly learned personalities at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Mainstage Theatre.

Based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale and the eudora Welty novella, the musical tells a Southern folk story of Mississippi-based people who entangle themselves in love, lust, fraud and greed.

“In a larger sense, it’s about people with dual-ity,” said Anne Healy, director and theatre arts lecturer. “each of the characters has a face or personality that they show to everyone, and one that’s deep inside of them.”

Set in the 18th century, the rousing tale re-volves around the love story of Jamie Lockhart, a suave robber in the woods, and Rosamund, a wealthy planter’s daughter.

For theatre arts junior Alan Pollard, who plays Lockhart, the production has given him many firsts. Despite his experience with on-camera act-ing and other staged productions, Pollard landed his first-ever lead role and musical in his theatri-cal debut at the university.

“I’m doing things I’ve never done before and haven’t been responsible for this much work,” he said. “It has been quite a workout.”

Pollard said he can’t relate to his character and be-lieves it’s always a challenge for actors to identify with the role.

“Lockhart is the puppet master in the grand scheme of things,” Pollard said. “I’m not a con-trolling person, so I had to figure out what the character really wants and try to make a connection within myself.”

As her first lead in a musical, theatre arts senior Jill Deramus plays Rosamund. Deramus said her character has an innocent and rebellious side to her personality.

“She’s a bratty, sweet-loving, high school-aged girl who wants all aspects of love at the same,” she said. “She falls for Jamie simply because she wants a man, regardless of who he is.”

Because Lockhart conceals his face with berry stains, the characters don’t know his true identity and deem him the “Robber Bridegroom.”

Healy said that once characters step on the stage, they stay there throughout the perfor-mance.

“It’s not a traditional musical,” she said. “It’s just like sitting around a campfire and telling folk tales.”

The set’s construction began in January, and 60 students helped design costumes, props and lights. Healy said the cast has worked with a cer-tified clogging instructor, who has taught them a dance style called Appalachian flat footing. The style comes from the same roots as Irish step dancing, tap dance and european folk dancing. Performers wear hard-soled clogs for sound ef-fects. Before auditions last november, those who tried out attended two clogging workshops to practice dancing.

“It felt very awkward at first,” Pollard said. “I’ve had a little tap dance experience, so it wasn’t an enormous jump for me.”

The cast also adjusted to bluegrass music, with a professional orchestration of banjos, fid-dles, keyboards and harmonicas, which plays on stage along with the characters.

“The cast is also the set because it’s just one big moving piece,” Deramus said. “You don’t see many schools doing a bluegrass genre.”

Theatre arts senior Melissa Kendall has her first-ever musical role and said she watched country music performers like Loretta Lynn to get into the shoes of her character, Salome, the story’s evil stepmother.

“It’s like ‘Little House on the Prairie’ mixed with a wicked witch from the fairy tales,” she said.

Theatre arts freshman Wes Farnsworth plays Goat, a young simpleton who has childish fun.

“Think of the most fun you can have as a kid, and that’s my character,” he said.

Theater arts senior Jason Villarreal said he has worked toward a spot in the musical since

last April, when the show season was posted.

“I knew the mo-ment that profes-sor Healy was di-recting it, I had to be in that show,” he said. “I knew hav-ing this role would be a challenge, and she could guide me through doing the character justice.”

Villarreal said he isn’t as selfish as his character, Little Harp, but enjoys a chal-lenge.

“Little Harp wants money, food and women and is ready to gain it in any way possible,” he said. “But what really draws me to my character is his determination.”

Pollard looks forward to Friday’s opening, despite the audience reaction.

“I tend not to worry about what the au-dience thinks,” he said. “My job is to go out there and be the best I can be at what I’m doing.”

Student musical shows that things aren’t always what they appear

about the playThe Robber BridegroomMusic by Robert WaldmanLyrics by Alfred UhryFirst developed in 1975 by the Acting Company at The Juilliard School and opened on Broadway in 1976.

When and WhereWhen: 8 p.m. Wednes-day-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Saturday and SundayMarch 4 through 8Where: Mainstage Theatre, Fine Arts BuildingPrice: $11 general admission, $8 for stu-dents, faculty, staff and senior citizens

Theatre arts junior Alan Pollard, as

Jamie Lockhart, holds a knife against theatre arts sopho-

more Jackie Pick-ard, as Clemment Musgrove, during rehearsal Feb. 23 at the Mainstage

Theatre.

Above: Theatre arts se-nior Melissa Kendall en-gulfs herself as Salome during rehearsal Feb. 23 at the Mainstage Theatre.

Left: Theatre arts sophomore Stephen Howell braces physical contact as Clemment Musgrove’s understudy Feb. 23 at the Main-stage Theatre.

Theatre arts junior Alan Pollard wraps up a musical piece as Jamie Lockhart during The Robber Bridegroom rehearsal Feb. 23 at the Mainstage Theatre. The musical, running Wednesday through Sunday, is an adaptation of Eudora Welty’s novella set in Mississippi.

SToRY BY ALAnnA QuILLen | PHoToS BY RASY RAn

A Southern FAiry tAle