2008 Woodie Awards
The Skin of Our Teeth Opens Grand Success
Theatre Department Opens New Play The Skin of Our Teeth for Students' Kasser Debut
Leo Dority
Issue date: 12/2/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment
Thornton Wilder's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Skin of Our Teeth is playing this week in Montclair State University's new Alexander Kasser Theatre. It will historically be the first student play in Kasser and we could not be luckier than to have the opportunity to partake in this seminal event. The production is brilliant.
Led by director Susan Kerner, the cast and crew of Skin have been working feverishly for two months to bring Wilder's play to life. It could not have come at a better time. As was the case during the play's original 1942 production in New Havens Shubert Theatre, our country is at war.
To say this play is about war, however, is to minimize its reach; Skin examines humanity itself. But what motivates a merciless study of human life if not war?
Skin follows the Antrobus family and their sultry maid Sabina through three wildly different acts.
Mr. Antrobus, inventor of the wheel and the alphabet, heads the household, while Mrs. Antrobus works hard to keep the children, Gladys and Henry, morally upright. Sabina seems more bent on causing problems than keeping up the house.
Julie Crisante, a junior BA theatre major, shines as Mrs. Antrobus. Her performance of the play's wife is dynamic yet poised. Crisante is able to keep Mrs. Antrobus' moral composure and scruples in the often dizzying, chaotic world of the play. Jon Hoche, a junior BFA acting major, is well matched with Crisante.
He commands the attention of the other characters, as well as the audience. The strength of his performance is one of the threads holding this massive play together.
"There is nothing at face value in this play," Hoche said concerning Mr. Antrobus's deceptively gripping speech at the play's climax.
The performances of the Antrobus children are captivating as well. The charismatic Colleen Finnegan, a junior BFA acting major, captures the exuberance of Gladys.
There are some daring moments for her that would best be kept secret before viewing the play, but it is always her bold talent that impresses the audience and brings this character to life so vividly. Her glowing presence is a gift to the audience.
Led by director Susan Kerner, the cast and crew of Skin have been working feverishly for two months to bring Wilder's play to life. It could not have come at a better time. As was the case during the play's original 1942 production in New Havens Shubert Theatre, our country is at war.
To say this play is about war, however, is to minimize its reach; Skin examines humanity itself. But what motivates a merciless study of human life if not war?
Skin follows the Antrobus family and their sultry maid Sabina through three wildly different acts.
Mr. Antrobus, inventor of the wheel and the alphabet, heads the household, while Mrs. Antrobus works hard to keep the children, Gladys and Henry, morally upright. Sabina seems more bent on causing problems than keeping up the house.
Julie Crisante, a junior BA theatre major, shines as Mrs. Antrobus. Her performance of the play's wife is dynamic yet poised. Crisante is able to keep Mrs. Antrobus' moral composure and scruples in the often dizzying, chaotic world of the play. Jon Hoche, a junior BFA acting major, is well matched with Crisante.
He commands the attention of the other characters, as well as the audience. The strength of his performance is one of the threads holding this massive play together.
"There is nothing at face value in this play," Hoche said concerning Mr. Antrobus's deceptively gripping speech at the play's climax.
The performances of the Antrobus children are captivating as well. The charismatic Colleen Finnegan, a junior BFA acting major, captures the exuberance of Gladys.
There are some daring moments for her that would best be kept secret before viewing the play, but it is always her bold talent that impresses the audience and brings this character to life so vividly. Her glowing presence is a gift to the audience.