The Musical Must Go On – Visual Arts Spotlight

This graphic is property of Gulf Coast State College, 2019

The Amelia Center for the Arts is where all the magic happens at Gulf Coast State College. This building is on the West side of campus, and therefore one of the closest buildings to the gulf that surrounds the school. The views are beautiful, but there is a bit of danger that lurks around that water.

During October of 2018, Hurricane Michael swept through the Panhandle of Florida with such ferocity that it caught all the residents by surprise. While the college had a moderate amount of damage, it wasn’t as significant as most of Panama City. The clean took nearly a month to get the school back in working order, and the repairs are still ongoing in some buildings on campus.

The Amelia Center is one of the buildings where repairs are still being done, both on the inside and outside. It is easy to vouch for the hard work of the people who are helping to piece our campus back together, and I can personally vouch for the work on the theatre department who is helping to rebuild the backstage portion of the Amelia Center. The first time I entered the building, nearly five weeks ago, there was still a lot of construction being done. The amount of space they had for all their tools, equipment, and set pieces was shrunk down to a measly 10 feet.

The lack of space made moving around difficult, not to mention that the theatre department also needed to build an entire set for their Spring Musical. This musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, was written by Stephen Sondheim in the 1960’s. A Funny Thing was critically acclaimed and has been revived over 10 times on the stage, and even once on screen. This play is based around three houses that are right next to eachother. First there is a brothel run by Lycus, the house of Senex, Domina, and their son Hero, and then the house of Erronius who often constantly reminds people of his long missing son and daughter, who were kidnapped years ago. Pseudolus, Hero’s slave, will do anything he can to gain his freedom, which is a vein of humor in the play. Another slave, Hysterium helps Pseudolus often.

His master, Hero, longs for the love of Philia, who is owned by Lycus in his brothel. Hero promises Pseudolus his freedom if he can win him Philia, which Pseudolus eagerly persues. However, there is confusion to be had. Hero’s elderly father Senex also has an eye on Philia, which means that Pseudolus is also tasked with helping his master’s father gain the woman for his own desires. Shockingly, we discover that Philia has been sold to a soldier who is soon to return home named Miles Gloriosus. Pseudolus tries his best to fight off all the men who are chasing the dumb but beautiful Philia, which is a huge source of laughs. When Miles Gloriosus returns to Rome he immediately demands his beautiful Philia, when Pseudolus panics and declares that she is dead. Pseudolus even persuades his friend Hysterium to don a wig and dress and pretend to be the corpse of Philia. However, Philia hears that her owner is back in town, and mistakenly thinks that man is Senex, who is more than happy to receive her. While Senex tries to hide from his wife and enjoy some alone time with Philia, his wife Domina also dons a wig pretending to be Philia herself in order to woo her husband back to her.

Pseudolus nearly worries himself silly running around trying to keep track of all the people he is trying to trick, realizing that he keeps digging himself into a deeper hole while keeping the three “Philias” from running into each other. At the end of the play we discover that Philia and Miles are the long-lost children that Erronius had taken from him many years ago, and since they are brother and sister Miles quickly loses interest in Philia. And since she belongs to the honored house of Erronius, she is now high enough on the social ladder to marry Hero. This gains Pseudolus his freedom after all. It is easy to see the harmony and family-like atmosphere in the theatrical department. Every time I enter the building I am met with the sounds of lively conversation as they work on their set design.

They are always eager to explain what they are working on, and always eager to help each other to learn more about their craft. It may seem like it is all fun and games in the world of theatre, but these people have showed me just how difficult it can be to deal with the demands of the stage. Just like a company of Broadway actors and set designers, this department is just like a family, and they know the best way to work together under pressure. If you’d like to catch the show yourself, there are shows the 12^th-14^th, with a 7:30pm showing for the weekends and a matinee showing at 2:30pm on Sundays. Tickets and more information are available online at www.gulfcoast.edu/arts.

This graphic is property of Gulf Coast State College, 2019

The cast: The Proteans: Cooper Moore, Drew Rowell & Alex Watson Pseudolus: Christian Sullivan Senex: Christian Paris Domina: Danyelle Alexander Hero: Tom Lovaglio Philia: Amy Tinch Hysterium: Jason Blanks Marcus Lycus: Matt Swanson Miles Gloriosus: Dylan Van Slyke Erronius: Alexander Seeley Tintinabula: Mia Salaveria Panacea: Mackenzie Cady Gymnasia: Scarlet “Madi” Falls Vibrata: Piper Streichert The Geminae: Copper Potz, Drusilla Growls    

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