New theatre actors familiar as owners select pals to play
by Shannon Harrison
feature editor

   Violet and Roy O’Valle took lessons from old Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland movies.
   They got together and put on a show.
   Violet, retired SE Campus humanities division chair, and Roy now have opened their own theater company, Pantagleize.
   Theatergoers interested in foreign plays have an opportunity to view one next week and see some familiar TCC faces at the same time because the O’Valles have selected familiar faces from TCC to act in their productions.
   The theater’s name comes from a character created by the Belgian playwright Michel De Ghelderode, Violet O’Valle said.
   According to O’Valle, the French and German armies during World War I were on opposite sides of a square in Belgium, shooting at each other.
   When the 12 o’clock whistle sounded, a man exited a bank and noticed that the two armies were shooting at each other.
   “He opened his umbrella and strolled across the village. The army found this humorous and began to laugh so hard that they put their guns down and he passed through safely. Ghelderode wrote the play Pantagleize, and he had a character based on this banker,” she said.
   O’Valle and her husband opened the company a year ago. It was something that both of them wanted to do, and when they retired, they decided the time was right.
   “We have done poetry readings and have performed at nursing homes and the Methodist church for the Kiwanis Club, but this is our first full-length production, so in a way this is our grand opening,” she said.
The play is an adaptation of Jean de Letraz’s French farce Moumou, which in English translates to Pajama Tops. Mawby Green and Ed Feilbert adapted it.
   “The play has been performed for many years in Paris and London, and it was a big hit in America about 25 years ago,” she said.
   “The play is a little naughty,” she said. “It is about two different couples and a lot of mistaken identities.”
   Many of the characters in the play are or have been involved with TCC.
   “We have such a delightful cast, and I believe we got lucky because we advertised auditions in The Collegian,” she said.
   The cast consists of two TCC professors, Jim Schrantz and Ruth Engel; two former TCC students Dru Wilkendorf and Stacy Vaughn; current student Peggy Beggs, and two people not associated with TCC, Jason Manriquez and Pieter Van Der Vliet.
   “The reason we chose to do Moumou is because we are dedicated to doing international plays from all over the world in English translation, but we wanted to open with something that had wide audience appeal,” she said.
   O’Valle emphasized that the play is a full production.
   “You normally don’t see in the Metroplex a play with many costume changes, music and comedy,” she said. “There is a lot of color, music and a wonderful set. It is a finished production.”
   The play will preview Thursday, March 11, at 8 p.m., with 8 p.m. performances Friday-Saturday, March 12-13, and a 3 p.m. matinee Sunday, March 14, at the Hardy and Betty Sanders Theatre at the Community Arts Center across from the Will Rogers complex.
   Tickets range from $10 to $15, but TCC students will be admitted for half price. Discount rates are also available for seniors, other students, public school teachers and groups.
   To reserve tickets or for more information, call 817-731-9470.