The Alchemist

Lovewit, the master of the house....................Matthew Clifford
Face, the butler..............................Christopher M. Fordice
Neighbor/Chorus........................................Kelly Herbert
Neighbor/Chorus..........................................Kelli Weber
Subtle, the alchemist..............................Jon-Michael Roman
Dol Common, their colleague...........................Karly Ehrhardt
Dapper, a clerk.................................Sean David Kuprevich
Abel Drugger, a tobacco-man...............................Chris Fair
Sir Epicure Mammon, a knight.................Thomas William Harrison
Pertinax Surly, a gamester............................Douglas Hahner
Ananias, a Puritan deacon............................Chris Carithers
Tribulation Wholesome, a Puritan pastor........Laman"Wiley" Snyder
Kastril, the angry boy..................................Karl Tangara
Dame Pliant, his sister, a widow......................Melissa McEvoy
A Smith, later an deputy...................................Joe Gaita
A Parson...............................................Michael Smith
An Officer...............................................Bill Abbott

Assistant Director...........................Kris Peragallo
Set & Props Painting..................Chris Carithers, Joe Gaita, 
			              Kris Peragallo, Jennifer L. Sherpensky,
				                     Michael Smith, Rusty Snyder, 
		         		         Christina M. Tang, Julie Tragon
Running Crew...................Joe Gaita, Jennifer L. Sherpensky, 
		          Michael Smith, Christina M. Tang, Julie Tragon
Light & Sound Operator..............................Rusty Snyder

Chris Carithers (Ananias) is once again onstage, last seen as the radical pool-playing and proselytizing Station Master in last spring's production of The Cherry Orchard. Last semester, Chris, a sophomore English/American Studies major from Ringtown, PA, worked backstage and created the Godzilla cutout for The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (Abridged).

Matthew [Cliff] Clifford (Lovewit) is a sophomore Physics major from Allentown, PA, who was last seen as Juliet and Cleopatra (among others) in last semester's production of Compleat Wrks. He also played the Tramp in The Cherry Orchard last spring.

Karly Ehrhardt (Dol Common) is making her stage debut with this show. A sophomore Accounting major from Lincroft, NJ, Karly is also on the campus women's softball team.

Chris Fair (Abel Drugger) lists various school plays in high school as his previous theatre experience, and notes his favorites were a sadistic camp counselor and the Land Shark in a stage version of The Best of Saturday Night Live. Chris is a freshman Telecommunications major from Hershey, PA.

Christopher M. Fordice (Face/Lungs/Ulen Spiegel/ Jeremy), from Randolph, NJ, is a sophomore Biology major. This is his fourth show on campus, following last semester's Compleat Wrks. Last year he appeared the agéd butler Firs in The Cherry Orchard, and the Detective in Abducted! in the Fall '95 Evening of One Acts. Previous stage credits include Reuben and the Butler in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Malcolm in Macbeth, Stanley in Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Oliver in Oliver.

Joe Gaita (Smith/Deputy/Crew) is making his theatrical debut with this show. From West Paterson, NJ, Joe is a freshman Broadcast Cable major.

Douglas Hahner (Pertinax Surly) is a freshman Film & Video major. Last semester, Doug worked as Sound Operator for The Compleat Wrks. From Scotch Plains, NJ, Doug worked in his high school television station as the weekly news anchor, and also worked behind the camera. He also worked on stage crew, and played Jesus in the female version of The Odd Couple.

Thomas William Harrison (Sir Epicure Mammon), from Nesquehoning, PA, is, according to his reckoning, a "super-senior," pursuing an accounting degree after completing his B.A. in Communications (as a University Scholar, no less). In high school, he played Jud Fry in Oklahoma, and last semester on this campus he appeared in the company of The Compleat Wrks.

Kelly Herbert (Chorus/Neighbor) is a freshman Literature major from Blakeslee, PA. Last semester, she performed in the company of The Compleat Wrks. Previously, Kelly has played roles in Medea, The Lottery, Dracula, and The Phantom Tollbooth, and Little Women. Last May, Kelly finished thirteenth in the nation for dramatics at the National Speech and Debate Tournament in Topeka, Kansas.

Sean David Kuprevich (Dapper), from Bloomsburg, PA, is a freshman in the Division of Undergraduate Studies. Past stage experiences for Sean include directing The Actor's Nightmare, and acting in Anything Goes, Into The Woods, The Curious Savage, Beauty and the Beast, and Guys and Dolls.

Melissa McEvoy (Dame Pliant) is making her theatrical debut with this show. From Flemington, NJ, Melissa is a freshman majoring in Kinesiology.

Jon-Michael Roman (Subtle) is making his stage debut with this show. An International Business Management major from East Stroudsburg, PA, Jon-Michael is also active in the campus Student Government Association and in legislative advocacy.

Michael Smith (A Parson/Crew) is a freshman Film and Video major from Morganville, NJ. Before coming to our campus, Mike played a Wise Man in The Real Meaning of Christmas, and a Disciple in Putting Christ Back in Christmas. In high school he also played a traveling salesman in The Music Man and acted in several student films.

Laman "Wiley" Snyder (Tribulation Wholesome) is a freshman Film and Video major from Allentown, PA. His prior acting experience consists of doing student films in high school, and so he is making his stage debut in The Alchemist.

Karl Tangara (Kastril) is making his stage debut with this show. An Accounting/International Business major from East Stroudsburg, Karl is a student senator, a Lion Ambassador, and is involved with OTIS, the campus choir, and the PSU men's volleyball team, and also serves as the PSU women's volleyball team's statistician.

Kelli Weber (Chorus/Neighbor) directed Man of La Mancha and acted in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and M*A*S*H, among others, in high school. A freshman Film and Video major from Lisle, IL, Kelli made her Hazleton campus stage debut in last semester's The Compleat Wrks.

Jennifer L. Sherpensky (Crew) has participated in theatre since grade school, as well as being a member of her Pembeston, NJ, High School's Honor Society and being involved in athletics. Jenn is a freshman Liberal Arts major.

Rusty Snyder (Crew) is a first-year Film and Video major from Danville, PA. In high school she did a variety of technical jobs (house manager, painter, tech crew, and lighting crew) for numerous shows. On campus she worked backstage for last semester's Compleat Wrks. She has also worked on the tech crew for the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble.

Christina M. Tang (Dame Pliant Understudy/Crew) has never worked on or backstage before, though she was very active in high school in the National Honor Society, Model United Nations, Camp New Day, the AIDS walk, and serving as the President of Student Council. A freshman Liberal Arts major, Christina comes to us from North Arlington, NJ.

Julie Tragon (Crew) is a sophomore Physical Therapy Assistant major from Altoona, PA. This is Julie's first theatrical experience outside of a drama class she took in high school.

However, if we look more closely, we see that Jonson knew from personal experience the people he satirized. In The Alchemist, he attacked the cozeners (cheaters), the lustful, and the easily violent. Yet, more in-depth biographical studies note that, once, Jonson was arrested for murder, the result of "winning" a duel, and that in one year, two women (neither one his wife) claimed that he fathered their children. The claims seem to have been valid, and so we are left with a playwright who followed the classical tradition of playwrighting and who raised the stature of the English playwright‹and who, at the same time, lived in surroundings not at all far removed from the characters with which he peoples his plays.

Yet, alchemy was never intended to be a physical science but rather a metaphysical one. The process of changing "base metal into gold" served as an allegory for humans reaching a higher stage of spiritual development. The common man, the "lead," goes through a series of purifications until he reaches enlightenment and at-one-ment with God. Upon reaching this higher level of being, he then possesses powers (the philosopher's stone) that transcend our usual state, being able, as an evolved being, to access psychic and supernatural powers.

While there may be no actual alchemical labs existing today for the purpose of transmuting lead into gold, humans‹in and out of spiritual organization‹still work toward that evolution toward a higher consciousness, an endeavor that should be encouraged for the good of all humanity.

So I decided to find a play that contained some of the same elements as Compleat Wrks, such as costume changes (possibly recycling some of the costumes from last semester that only had minutes of stage time), theatrical role-playing, and farcical comedy. Try as I might, however, I could not find another play that contained the story of Othello in a rap song or that required a seven-foot tall Godzilla cut-out, so I decided to direct something by Ben Jonson.

Jonson's plays, with their satiric looks at society, have long interested me. In The Alchemist, Jonson exposed the folly of those in his era who bought into get-rich quick schemes and who allowed others to rule their lives. For contemporary similarities, one need only look at our present TV menu of infomercials to see people ready to rent us psychic friends or to sell us juicers, exercisers, memory techniques, and real estate speculation "systems" that will make us stronger, smarter, richer and more successful.

The attitudes of those so willing to be "gulled" or "cozened" seem not to have changed either; they will give much money to make even more (as Dapper does), they will bend the law or refuse to recognize it (as the Puritans Ananias and Tribulation do), and they will believe everything they are told (like almost everyone in the play). Those who would be rich will then use everyone else in turn; when Mammon, possessing the philosopher's stone, is rich beyond all measure, and when he happens upon a beautiful woman in the street, he will offer her husband a thousand pounds to sleep with her--an indecent proposal indeed!

And so we offer The Alchemist as a glance at the past, of London in 1610; but, as usual, as we look back, we see a mirror image of our own age.