Rowdy Irish comedy now in staging for South dramatists by Mary Barrera, south news editor

   The South Campus drama department is in final preparation for its last production or the year.

   The Cripple of Inishmaan, a rowdy Irish comedy, begins tonight.

   Theater students and community theater actors, under the direction of Doug Davidson, have assembled an interesting cast of characters for this comedy, running through Saturday.

   “It is a raucous comedy that becomes more personal as the play progresses,” Davidson said.

   The Cripple of Inishmaan (pronounced i-nish-MAHN), written by Martin McDonagh, is a fictional play based on factual occurrences in the 1930s.

   When a film crew arrives at the desolate Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland, a young man named Cripple Billy Claven becomes consumed with the idea of being in the film.

   “The play has fascinating, vivid characters whose dialogue is singularly poetic,” Davidson said.

   “It seems to be perfectly in period, colloquial and yet oddly timeless,” he said.

   As the play continues forward, Billy, an orphan with no means of travel, schemes to get off the island of Inishmaan and go to Inishmore where the filming for the movie is taking place.

   Allen Randall, who has appeared in several TCC productions, including Rosencrantz and Gildenstern, The Wiz and I Hate Hamlet plays Billy.

   “Billy is a 17-year-old cripple boy with not a lot of friends,” Randall said.

   “He is a dreamer and aspires to be bigger than he is,” the actor said.

Shannon Wright plays the attractive yet ferocious object of his desire, Helen.

   “Helen is quick-witted, foul-mouthed and out to shock everybody,” Wright said.

   Helen also dreams of getting off the island.

   Wright made her TCC debut in Innocents Crusade.

   The sisters, Eileen and Kate, who raised Billy, are an interesting blend of strictness and lunacy.

   Community theater actresses Ann Wolz, who plays Eileen, and Gayle Hussey, who plays Kate, bring into the production a maturity that mixes well with the excitement of the students and creates a happy group of actors, Davidson, the director, said.

   “TCC has a lovely theater and beautiful facilities,” Wolz said.

   Community theater actor Kit Hussey who has appeared in five Tarrant County productions, the most recent being A Raisin in the Sun, plays the island gossip, John O’Dougal.

   “In Johnny’s mind, he is one of the two greatest actors in the world, but he is stuck on the island taking care of his drunken Mammy,” Hussey said.

   Johnny’s Mammy is played by none other than Patty McCormick, assistant professor of drama, in a cameo role.

   Robert Malone plays Bartley, Helen’s slower-than-average younger brother.

   “Bartley is always trying to prove himself to his sister, who is always beating him down,” Malone said.

   “It’s going to be a great show,” he said.

   Community theater actor Mark Makin plays Dr. McSharry, a physician for the islands.

   “My character is Johnny’s foil. He is a straight-fact, quit-talking-bad-about-people type of character,” Makin said.

   Theater student Victor Sauceda, who made his first appearance in Private Eyes last semester, plays Babby Bobby, the tough fisherman on the island.

   “Living on the island is no different from living in a little town in Texas,” Sauceda said,

   “There is not a lot to do, and everyone dreams about something better,” he said.

   “We loved working with Doug (Davidson). He is very dedicated in what he does,” Hussey said.

   Davidson had an interesting take on the play’s writer.

   “It’s as if John Millington, who wrote Playboy of the Western World, had been able to stretch out over decades and been able to collaborate with Quentin Tarantino,” he said.

   “The fascinating thing,” Davidson continued, “is that he can seamlessly blend rowdy comedy with some of the most poignant dramatic moments.”

   The Cripple of Inishmaan opens at South Campus’ Carillon Theater Wednesday, April 17, and runs through Saturday, April 20, with 8 p.m. performances each evening.

   A matinee performance will be Thursday at 2 p.m.

   Admission is free to all TCC students, faculty and staff.

   Senior citizens, children and other students are $3 and adults are $5.

   The department advises that reservations be made through the South Campus box office.

   For more information and/or reservations, call 817-515-4642 or 817-515-4526.