Share Tweet Share Email

This indecision’s bugging me …

March 6, 2014
Bethany Mangum (as Eliza Gant), Martin Diaz-Valdez (as Eugene Gant), Brian Sprague (as W. O. Gant), Kearstyn Keller (as Laura James) and Jared Mack (as Ben Gant) appear in “Look Homeward, Angel.”

Bethany Mangum (as Eliza Gant), Martin Diaz-Valdez (as Eugene Gant), Brian Sprague (as W. O. Gant), Kearstyn Keller (as Laura James) and Jared Mack (as Ben Gant) appear in “Look Homeward, Angel.”

“It’s true that it’s a coming of age story, but it’s a little more than that. It’s the coming of age story of an artist,” Director Patricia Skarbinski said about her upcoming theater production, “Look Homeward, Angel,” based on the novel of the same name by author Thomas Wolfe.

Opening Thursday, March 27, the Northern Illinois University School of Theatre and Dance will present Ketti Fring’s adaptation of the Wolfe novel in the Huntley Middle School Auditorium, 1515 S. First St. in DeKalb.

An authentic American classic, Wolfe’s novel is generally considered to be semi-autobiographical and tells the story of a young man growing up and out of the fictional town of Altamont, easily recognizable as Wolfe’s hometown of Asheville, N.C.

Wolfe is personified in the character of Eugene Gant, a young dreamer struggling with the conflict between honoring and remaining in the home and family life where he finds himself stuck, and breaking away to become a writer in the bigger outside world.

Ketti Fring’s adaptation of the work was the winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best American play in 1958. It is set in 1916, right before America enters World War I, but it is an American story that today’s society can still relate to, Skarbinski said.

Photo of a white picket fence with blue skies behindShe relates the themes of the play to what many SoTD students are trying to pursue in their education. “Coming to terms with one’s past is essential in order to become more capable of pursuing yourself as an artist,” she said. “This is a great show for college.”

“Look Homeward, Angel” captures the sardonic humor and the grief, both private and universal, about a becoming an adult.

“It’s all about the breaking away that undergraduates experience – about respecting where our parents have brought us to, but at the same time acknowledging that to grow up is to find one’s own voice,” she said.

This production is not affiliated with DeKalb Community Unit School District 428.

The play runs over two weeks, from Thursday, March 27, through Sunday, March 30, and from Thursday, April 3, through Saturday, April 5. Performances are 7:30 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sunday and the second Saturday.

Tickets are $16 for adults, $13 for students and $8 for students. Reservations and more information are available by contacting the box office at (815) 753-1600 or sotdboxoffice@niu.edu.