BIG RIVER
by William Hauptman and Roger Miller
Produced by Weathervane Playhouse, June 2011.
Directed by Brice Corder
Assisted by Tony Tambasco
Cast
(in order of appearance)
Mark Twain / Doctor .... Kurt Barger
Huckleberry Finn .... Josh Meredith
Widow Douglas / Sally Phelps .... Carolyn Redman
Miss Watson .... Sarah Keyes Chang
Strange Woman .... Katie Smith
Jim .... Domonique Evans
Tom Sawyer .... Carlos Leon
Ben Rogers / Hank / Young Fool .... Matthew McCoy
Mary Jane Wilkes / Fiddler .... Molly Coyne
Jo Harper / Susan Wilkes .... Grace Etzkorn
Joanna Wilkes / Harmonica Player .... Emily Cipriani
Simon / Ensemble .... Thor Fox
Huck Understudy / Dick / Andy
/ Man in Crowd / Hired Hand
.... Owen Wingo
Pap Finn / Sheriff Ball .... Bob Skidore
Judge Thatcher / Harvey Wilkes / Silas Philips .... Jason
Samples
The King .... Dennis Kohler
The Duke .... Philip Black
Lafe / Counselor / Robinson / Hired Hand .... Brian
Hupp
Jim Understudy / Bill, a servant .... Nick Wilson
Alice, a slave .... Courtney McClellan
Alice's Daughter .... Nonye Obichere
Harmonica Player .... Ian Keller
Tarts / Female Ensemble .... Katie Post,
Nikki Nathan, Sarah Keyes Chang
Child .... Alivia MacKenzie
Crew
Director .... Brice Corder
Asst. Director .... Tony Tambasco
Musical Director .... Cheridy Keller
Choreographer .... Nikki Nathan
Production Stage Manager .... S.M. Payson
Technical Director .... Mark DeLancy
Properties Master / Scenic Designer .... Brittany Ellis
Costume Designer .... Cora Childress
Lighting Designer .... Brian Bartlett Moore
Sound Designer .... Tony Tambasco
Asst. Director's Notes
(if such a thing existed)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is, in many ways, a story told through changes in dialect, and Big River captures this essence of Twain's writing. Brice asked me to assist him with this production because of my background in prosody and comedy, which are at the heart of my graduate program in Shakespeare and Performance.
Specifically, Brice tasked me with the Duke and the King, two frauds that Huck and Jim meet on their travels, and both have rhetorical backgrounds that enable them to change their identities by changing their speech patterns. Of course, they try to take on too much, and the extent of their self-deception is revealed when the Duke, a self-stiled actor, creates a mashup of lines in place of "Hamlet's immortal soliloquy," and when the King, who describes preaching as his line of business, can barely make it through a simple eulogy.
In order for the emptiness of the Duke and the King's rhetoric to shine through, their patterns of speech need to be precise, layered, and deliberately flawed when they get in over their heads, and I am grateful to Brice for giving me the charge of such two fine actors as Black and Kohler, and helping them rise to the challenge of these demanding roles.