Casey Tharp

For the Review

On opening night of the Advanced Directing Scenes, Marshall Theater was thick with the talent of student directors and actors.

Junior Matt Cantelon directed a scene from “Rabbit Hole,” portraying a woman grieving her dead son. He said he became involved in directing because he enjoyed his first directing class.

Cantelon said one of the challenges of being a student director was learning to direct peers and friends, but said he enjoyed working with both the script and the actors.

“It’s really neat when you can ask people questions and lead the actors to places where they can discover the characters,” Cantelon said.

He said one of the difficulties of directing the scene was time management. Many of the actors were involved in “Bleacher Bums,” so rehearsals had to start just a week before performance, he said.

“These students aren’t doing it for credit, so they have other classes and activities,” Cantelon said. ”You have to be respectful of their time.”

Sophomore Jillian Haig played the lead role of the mother in Cantelon’s scene. She said this was one of her first dramatic roles and is glad the scene gave her the opportunity to expand her talent, though it was a challenge to develop such an emotional character in only two weeks.

“It’s really cool working with student directors,” Haig said. “There is less pressure in some ways, more in others. It’s a really collaborative work.”

She said it is a valuable experience for the future.

“It’s good to learn to work with peers and being able to switch from friends to a professional
relationship,” Haig said.

Junior Afton Pilkington directed a flashback-based scene from “Anne of a Thousand Days,” a play chronicling the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn. She said she took the advanced directing course because she thought it would be useful in teaching theater.

Pilkington said one of the challenges was filling in the history for a complex play. She said she gave each of her actors a 10-page packet on the life of his or
her character.

“Working with new actors is a whole new challenge, especially with such complicated characters,” Pilkington said. “What you see is only half of them.”

Seeing the whole production come together was one of the best parts besides working with the actors themselves, she said.

“I have a huge cast, but I love it,” Pilkington said. “I love the discoveries, when I can lead the actors with questions until they see what I want them to see.”

Freshman Bree Adams played the young Anne Boleyn in Pilkington’s scene.

“I just went and tried out,” she said. “I didn’t really expect anything; I just wanted to have fun.”

She said getting inside this highly complex character’s head was a true challenge.

“I have to ask myself, ‘what am I feeling here, and why am I feeling it?’”
Adams said.

 She said memorizing lines and then having to act them out like it was the first time  was  difficult for her.

Also involved in “Bleacher Bums,” Adams said learning the role was stressful but a good experience. In Haig’s words, it’s a great way to get your acting fix without a commitment.

“A lot of people try out who don’t have enough time to be in a mainstage production,” Cantelon said. “It’s a great way for them to be involved.”

Pilkington said she hopes more non-theater majors will audition.

“I hope people really enjoy these scenes and understand it’s a learning experience,” Pilkington said.

The show runs May 20-23 at 7:30 p.m.

Joelle Cheek

Arts/ent/ops editor

Producing a play takes time, effort and creative thinking. For the design team, actors and directors of “Crave,” the hard work is appreciated.

Linfield earned a total of five certificates of merit from the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, for its recent production of “Crave.”

Senior Caleb Kearns, juniors Trish Castaneda-Gonzalez and Afton Pilkington and sophomore Will De Biccarri each received certificates of merit for acting ensemble.

Junior Matt Cantelon received a certificate of merit in the area of sound design, and junior Tess Malone received a certificate for lighting design.

The director of the production, Janet Gupton, associate professor of theatre arts, and junior Zane Johnston received certificates for directing.

Tyrone Marshall, professor of theatre arts and communication arts, was awarded for scenic design.

For Cantelon, this was the second recognition he received; he earned one for co-sound design in “The Waiting Room.”

“I had been thinking about it since November,” Cantelon said. “That’s a long time, so it’s nice to get recognized.”

Cantelon said working with the director and having such a conceptual script posed a problem because of the varying interpretations.

“I learned a lot about collaboration and taking a concept through and really executing it,” Cantelon said. 

Castaneda-Gonzalez
had a difficult time connecting with her character, but eventually pulled it off through some of her own character searching.

“My life is nothing like ‘Crave,’ but I had to find some way to connect with the character,” Castaneda-Gonzalez said.

For Malone, the lighting design contributed to the audience’s understanding of what was occurring
in the play.

“It was an abstract script, so I really had to use the light to draw the audience’s focus,” Malone said.

Castaneda-Gonzales, De Biccarri and Pilkington were all nominated to compete in the Irene Ryan Acting competition, which will be held in Moscow, Idaho,
in February.                              

Joelle Cheek

Arts/ent/ops editor

Senior Matt Wakeford-Evans has been around music since his father sang to him in the womb.

His father’s musical talent had much to do with his musical aspirations. Wakeford-Evans writes his own songs and plays multiple instruments, ranging from the flute to the guitar.

Wakeford-Evans, a general science major with a focus in math and a double minor in physics and philosophy, said he hopes to teach high school physics after graduation.

His musical career at Linfield has earned him first place in Mr. Linfield, Mr. Phi Sig, Spring Sing and the annual Alpha Phi Star Search. He  also performed in the March 13 CatCab, with his father as a special guest. Wakeford-Evans’ said his drive for performing comes from the enjoyment of it.

“Performing is exhilarating,” Wakeford-Evans said. “You lose yourself in your performance.”

He said his singing today would not have been possible without his father.

His father was a member of a band in the ‘70s and taught at the same Waldrof grade school that Wakeford-Evans attended. His father also plays five instruments, including trumpet, guitar, piano and the recorder,  which exposed Wakeford-Evans to many different musical styles, he said.

“I have been in a choir and played instruments from kindergarten to high school,” Wakeford-Evans said.

Graduating next week, Wakeford-Evans’plans for his future to include music. 

“I don’t want to be a rock star,” Wakeford-Evans said. “My audience is going to be my future
class and my kids.”

Wakeford-Evans said he is ready to take on fatherhood and is musically ready for it as well.

“I have a play list on iTunes for the songs I want to play to my kids,” Wakeford-Evans said. “My dad sang to me while I was growing up and I want that for my kids.”

Some of the artists that have inspired him are Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel and music from the 1980s.

“I listen to any music that generates a feeling,” Wakeford-Evans said. “Some music just plain tries
too hard.”

He said his inspiration for his songs comes from relationships with other people. The method of writing songs has been one of  sheer happening for him.         

The process for Wakeford-Evans is undefined and random. He says the song practically writes itself once he begins to play a chord. 

Lizzie Martinez

Senior reporter

It’s uncommon for a student performer to have the chance to play with a composer. But the talented musicians playing in Scot Irvine’s senior recital have all had the chance to collaborate with him and discover the meaning behind his works.

“I rarely get the opportunity to play with someone who has written the piece,” junior Amy Shoemaker, who will play in the recital, said. “Usually, you’re playing the music of someone you will never meet. I think the idea of working with the composer is cool.”

Irvine will debut five original composition pieces tonight. A music composition major, Irvine not only wrote all the pieces but is also featured in two of the songs: “Sax Trio” and a saxophone solo entitled “Slavic Dance.”

Irvine, Shoemaker and sophomore Jason Haun have been practicing since the beginning of the semester to master the trio. At
fifteen minutes long, the  piece will challenge the musicians’ stamina. The “Sax Trio” is also the most non-traditional piece in the recital because it is based
on a quartal harmony.

“It might take a second to get used to it, but it’s so long that hopefully the audience will be on board by the end,” Irvine said.

The trio has no key or chords, as most songs do, and there is a constant change in meter and rhythm, making it especially difficult to play.

“The most interesting thing about it is that is retrograde,” Shoemaker said. “In the middle it turns around and you play it again backwards. It’s a mirror image of itself.”

The other piece Irvine will perform is “Slavic Dance” with staff piano accompanist Sara Greenleaf Seitz. Irvine completed this piece early this semester.

Seitz will also play “Theme and Variations” on the piano. Irvine said he composed the piece with Seitz in mind and recently completed
the piece.

“Because I knew it was for Sara, I made it a lot harder,” Irvine said. “The overall impression is that of a very schizophrenic type of feel; it jumps around a lot.”

Because an organ is available in Ice Auditorium, Irvine will include it in his piece “Prelude.” Composed a year ago, just after Irvine transferred from Southern Oregon University to Linfield, the piece will be played by sophomore
Heidi Vanden Bos.

“Prelude” is short, and it is based on a Baroque-style music called ‘Fortspinnung,” which is German for spinning out.

The final piece of the recital is a choral piece based on John Milton’s 17th century epic 10-book poem “Paradise Lost” about the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Irvine chose excerpts from the poem focusing on conversations between the Devil and Eve.

Irvine has been a musician since the fifth grade, but he first began writing music in high school when he learned to play the guitar and
started a garage band.

His first crash course in music theory came when his father took a course at the local community college. Irvine became fascinated by the intricacies of music theory.

“(My dad) told me to go for it, and I haven’t really looked back,” Irvine said.

The process of writing music for Irvine is one, mostly, of inspiration.

“I just sit down, and I start with the first note and keep going until I’m happy with it,” Irvine said.

After graduation, Irvine plans to spend a month backpacking in France before returning to his hometown of Palmer, Alaska, for the summer. He plans to work with his father, who is the choir director at a local church, to compose music for the choral groups.

In the fall, Irvine will return to McMinnville to get a “normal” job and hopes to continue to find outlets to play and compose music.

“I’m utilizing any path to get my music played,” he said.

Tonight at 8 p.m., the sounds of organ, piano, saxophone and singing voices will fill Ice Auditorium.

Joelle Cheek

Combining mathematics and art into one, studio gallery director fifth-year senior Justin Alpern is a jack of all trades.

Alpern is a student, artist and a studio art major with a minor in art history.  

His most recent artwork premiered May 14 in the Thesis Exhibition titled
“intra.sect.“

Drawn to Linfield by the art program, Alpern had no choice in pursuing art. The artist gene runs in his family with his mother, father and grandfather all possessing artistic skills, he said.

Alpern said he considers himself to be a conceptual artist and enjoys working with different media including video and photography.

“It’s my job to break your conception of what you expect,” Alpern said.

His vision for his art splits from the mold because he is inspired by the Fibonacci sequence of numbers.

“It’s inherent to the nature of our body,” Alpern said. “The sequence for example, represents the ratio between the segments of our fingers.”

His artwork consists of the mathematic formula with the golden rectangle: a rectangle constructed using the golden ratio, which when combined references the golden spiral, he said.

Also in the show are three books, wallpaper made from individual frames of a video  and the video itself. Each page in the books represent a second in time where the frames are stretched out in the ratio of the golden rectangle.

Alpern employs his artistic vision by working in the Fine Art Gallery in the James F. Miller Fine Arts Center.

His job duties include hanging up the artwork and constructing and setting up the different installations required for the variety of shows passing through the gallery.

Alpern said he enjoys his work because he is allowed to collaborate with interesting artists and professors.

His talents in different media have allowed him to venture into the business world as well. He mostly offers services in Web design, video and photography  to other artists or
companies.

“I want to make the concept come alive in a meaningful and visually interesting way,” Alpern said.

Alpern also has made an impact on his fellow students. Junior Laura Johnson said she likes the variety of mediums in his work.

“He likes to bring a lot of different worlds into his work,” Johnson said.

Mary Odunuga

They are now seniors, and they have three weeks of hard work at Linfield before they graduate. Starting on Wednesday the intra.sect exhibit features work from fifth-year senior Justin Alpern and seniors Keenan Havens, Alia Moore and Lindsay Thordarson.

Their work is being presented in the Miller Fine Arts Gallery until June 1, and is open to students and the public every Tuesday through Saturday from noon to 5 p.m.

This project is a two-semester long work thesis about developing a kind of artwork that is consistent and has a theme. The show displays each of the students’ work: Alpern’s video work, Havens’ drawings and Moore’s
sculptures.

Thordarson is a painter and her work is mostly in acrylic. Alpern did video work, Havens did drawings and Moore’s works are in sculpture.

“My thesis is all about memory, nostalgia and preservation in short,” Moore said. “This project evolved from the work I was working on before.”

Havens said his drawings center around life and death. They are about preserving life in drawing.

“My drawing is a kind of abstract visual journal. We are all going to die, and I thought that if I make replicas of myself in drawings, I might be able to preserve myself on time,” Havens said.

This project is the continuation of last year’s work.

They are eager about leaving Linfield for the new world. Thordarson is planning on going to Portland to work for a year.

“I feel excited to be out of school although I am a little scared,” Thordarson said.

She would like to go to graduate school for creative writing. Until then, she wants to explore her opportunities. Thordarson has an internship with a publishing house in Portland. She is also  considering making illustrated books for children.

Moore said she is ready  to leave Linfield and fulfill other goals. She hopes to get some job and continue in art, Alpern agrees.

“I am excited to graduate, but I know that I have a lot of work to do before I graduate and right after. I am an artist, a photographer and a videographer and I intend to work for myself,” Alpern said.

Havens said he might move to the Portland area, and he hopes to get a job in a gallery. He is excited about leaving but anxious of what the outside world holds for him.

“It is a whole big new world which I am going into and is something new. It is terrifying and intriguing for me,” he said.

The gallery is open noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.  For more information, please call
503-883-2804.