Daily Iowan

Issue date: 11/29/07 Section: 80 Hours

"[Anton] finds a way to approach the heart of the craft and the cynicism of the business, all in the same piece," said the show's director and UI theater Professor Eric Forsythe, who noted that the Martin script was one he'd wanted to produce for several years.

Another of the play's themes is the bizarre unevenness between the sexes in the theater profession. As both McDermott and Borden pointed out, roles for women (on-stage and off-) remain limited in number, even today. Not only are the seven cast members of Anton all female (some doubling-up to play male characters), Borden reported that there are a grand total of three men in the entire production crew, Forsythe.

"I was the only guy in the room at all the rehearsals," Forsythe said. "I think it's great - there's a real sense of solidarity with the combination of the theme of the work and the sex of the players."

"It's very empowering," McDermott said. "In theater, it's rare to have more female than male parts."

Both women reported that rehearsals for the show have gone well, even having an atmosphere at times that Borden termed as "like a slumber party."

"It's been a really smooth rehearsal process," McDermott said with a laugh. So much so that friends began asking why Anton wasn't coming up in conversation. Her reply: "When something's going well, you have nothing to complain about."

Borden was especially thrilled that the production's week-long break over Thanksgiving week didn't slow the show's course for this weekend's début.

"As stage manager, you're always very concerned about people losing momentum, but I was really impressed with our cast and crew," she said with a note of pride. "We got back, and it was as though we never missed a day."

E-mail DI reporter Anna Wiegenstein at:

anna-wiegenstein@uiowa.edu

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