THE OHIO NEWS bureau company Clevel-iiul. 44115 First Chppin<J In O lo COLUMBUS EVENING DISPATCH COLUMBUS, 0. E.M.S CIRC. 222,350 OCT-12-75 Sue Ann Kocks in the title role as Dolly • Otterbein College Theater production of i Levi makes a romantic advance toward Thornton Wilder’s farce. “The Matchmak- J her employer, Steven Black as Horace er, to be staged at 8:15 p.m. Oct. 22-25 ii ^Vandergelder, in this scene from the Cowan Hall. ^ ■ A I Season tickets available Season tickets are still available for . the 1975-76 Otterbein College Theatre season, opening Oct. 22-25 Matchmaker opens at 8:15 p.m. with Thornton | Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” ^ Sue Ann Kocks and Steven Black are cast in the lead I staged as a partof the Otter­ roles of the Otterbein College Theatre production of ! bein Bicentennial obser - Thornton Wilder's classic farce, "The Matchmaker" ^ vance.; Oct. 22-25 at 8:15 p.m,. in Cowan Hall. Miss Kocks is matchmaker Dolly Levi,, while Black plays the role of ; Sue Ann Kocks as Dolly Horace Vandergelder, a Yonkers merchant who emplovs ; Levi and Steven .Black as her to find him a bride. Tickets are now available at the J, Horace Vandergelder are Cowan Hall Box Office. j cast in leading roles in “The Matchmaker.” The long - running Broadway musical “Hello. Dolly!” was based on this farce. Miss Kocks, a senior from Whitehall, plays the title role while Black, a Columbus junior, portrays a wealthy Yonkers merchant who employs her to find a suitable spouse for j him. I Plans are to stage the pro­ duction in 1890’s fashion,; I complete with period cos- , tumes and music compli -' menting four sets and a cast of 16 characters . The set de­ sign is by Professor Fred Thayer. Costumes are by Petie Dodrill. Three other major pre-" sentations are slated for the season, including “Hamlet” (Feb. 18021), Blithe Spirit i (.April 7-10) and “Showboat” A (May 19-22). In addition, a ! special children’s theatre • production ,of “Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp” is scheduled for four shows the weekend of Nov. 21-23. v Ticke'ts are available by | calling the Cowan Hall box j office daily from 1-4 p.m. j ^ NEWS ' ^ J ; :.BUREAU COMPANY ^ Ohio 44115 ii . v,.^irst Clipping Bureau In Ohio ^oLO.v/ouS EVENiNQ -iSPATCH COLUMBUS, 0. C.-M.* CIRC. 222.350 IN WILDER FARCE James St. Clair and Beth Titus share a glass of champagne in this scene from Otterbein College’s production of “The Matchmaker.” The farce by Thornton Wilder will be presented at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, y ■ 41 THE OHid NEWS ; I'fc^ ;i; >y. BUREAU company. :#v/ A ■'.. .;Clevel^d^ OhtoT44ri5 r’ j ::i-^'^^t.f^Iipp.i^9^^reau 'In Okiq\l *: /1 COLUMBUS CITIZEN JOURNAL COLUMBUS, 0. A.M. • CIRC. 117,500 Oxenford, first I OCT-24-75 London in 1835. The morning after. THIS VERSIC one Johann Nesi pare a German i^’ iv.- atchmaker^ opens Otterbein seasorr GENE GERRARD the surface vulgarity usually dergelder’s niece, doesn’t es. They get to kiss a girl, and lizen-Joomal Staff Critic associated with the role. have a great deal to do — but Cornelius is allowed to put As plays go, Thornton Miss Kocks’ Dolly is gen­ whit she does is so very his arm about the waist of Wilder's ‘‘The Matchmaker” tler, more vulnerable, less rigit. Miss Malloy. is not exactly in the first pushy and determined than “THe Matchmaker” is farci­ Then there are moments flush of youth. other Dollys we have seen. and other revealing pauses Neither is the title charac­ But those are deficiencies in cally blessed with lightning changes of pace, slapstick during which Dolly suspends ter, for that matter. But she's characterization that one the levity long enough to a spry young bird in Charles comes to expect sometimes anc an abundance of old- fashioned, innocent charm. converse with the spirit of W. Dodrili’s faithful revival in an all-student production. her dead husband. this week in Cowan Hall on PHYSICALLY, STEVE And it is a wonderfully wise the Otterbein College cam­ Black is too suave and debon­ pla^, one whose asides are A GOOD deal of Dodrill’s warimly human and keenly pus. air as blustering Horace Van- direction emphasizes the DODRILL HAS staged dergelder, a merchant of observant. play’s merrily reckless Wilder's farce in 1890's fash­ Yonkers, N.Y., who doesn’t CNE FRENETICALLY hi­ mood. But there were times, ion with the aid of a younger- have the slightest idea that larious sequence occurs in particularly in the second than-springtime cast, which he is to be Mrs. Levi’s next the course of a Mack Sennett- act, when a brisker pace was includes Steve Black, Cabot husband, thus bringing her style chase in an elegant needed. Rea, Dan Hawk, Leslie infamous career as a match­ restaurant, when Cornelius “The Matchmaker” traces Young, James St. Clair, Jou maker to a close. Then, too. and Barnaby — in search of its ancestry all the way back John Cain, Anne Vittur, Ran­ Black strains at the bit for the adventure of their lives to an English trifle called “A dy Adams, Sue Kocks, Beth effect. He is forced instead of — realize their i^ildest wish- Day Well gpent,” by John Titus, Cindy Snodgrass, Dav­ forceful. - ■»-------------------- ^ ^ id Weller, David Robinson, Cindy Snodgrass (Minnie Tom Downard, Nancy Shel­ Fay) and John Cain (Barnaby ton and Beth Kendig. Tucker) are absolutely price­ Fred J. Thayer has provid­ less, and two of the show's ed four appropriately garish greatest assets. They were and colorful sets, and Sander the cause of more than one A. Frye's exquisitely fash­ burst of spontaneous ap­ ioned calliope contributes plause opening night. enormously to the general BETH TITUS makes a per­ mood and atmosphere of the fectly charming Irene Mal­ production. loy, a milliner who hates hats. OBVIOUSLY TOO young Also, I liked James St. in years for the role. Sue Clair as the 33-year-old ap­ Kocks is nonetheless a lovely prentice, Cornelius Hackl, in looking Dolly Levi — perhaps search of “adventure.” He’s a too handsome for her own very appealing young actor. good. She lacks the aggres­ siveness, the scheming and ANNE VITTUR, as Van­ Sue Ann Kocks and Steven farce, “The Matchmaker,” to Cincy Snodgress also will be Black have been cast m be presented at 8:15 p.m. featured in major roles. leading roles in the Otter- Oct. 22-25 in Cowan Hall. Other cast members will bein College production of Miss Kocks will portray include Randy Adams, Cabot Thornton Wilder’s classic Dolly Levi and Black will Rea, Dan Hawk, Leslie portray Horace Vandergel- Young, Anne Vittur, David der, the wealthy New York Weller, David Robinson, Tom merchant who employs her Downard, Nancy Shelton and as matchmaker. Beth Kendig. James St. Clair and John Dr. Charles W. Dodrill will Cain will play the appren­ direct the production, with tices with whom Vandergel- set design by Prof. Fred. der’s matchmaker becomes Thayer and costumes by Pe- involved, and Beth Titus and tie Dodrill. CCLUiUBUS P/ENING DISPATCH COLUMBUS, 0. EM..,CiRC. 222,350 OCT- 5-75 ; History Of.Play served When Otterbein College opens its theater season with Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker” at 8:15 p.m. Oct. 22-25 as part of the Bicentennial observance, it will be staging a play with both American flavor and a . ^ foreign origin. ' ' Although Wilder’s “Matchmaker” is “typically American in spirit,” says director Dr. Charles W. Dod- rill, the origin of its plot can be traced to an English play written 140 years ago. t THE STORY OF a wealthy r merchant who employs * a matchmaker whom he even- : " tually marries came -from John Oxenford’s “^A Well Day . Spent,” which appeared in London in 1835. The same story was later ^ : ; adapted in a comedy by i f' Austrian Johann Nestroy, j “Einen Jux will er sich mach- i en” (“Out for a Good Time’") ! in 1842. * The plot got its initial ^ American adaptation in “The Merchant of Yonkers,” pro­ duced by Herman Shumlin, directed by Max Reinhardt and first performed at Bos­ ton’s Colonial Theater in 1938. WILDER’S version of the farce was rewritten from the earlier American production and produced for the Edin­ burgh Festival. It was first presented in 1954 at the Royal Lyceum Theater. The Wilder adaptation provided the basis for the long-running Broadway mus­ ical, “Hello, Dolly!”, with the main character fashioned after Wilder’s matchmaker, Dolly Levi. Dodrill says his plans are to stage the production in 1890s’ fashion, with period 5 and music corpnip- four sets and a.