Видовская театральная сцена ставит пьесу «Побег из Шоушенка» с акцентом на надежду и жестокость

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Violence and vulgarity are conduits of hope in the Whidbey Playhouse’s latest production. Kevin Wm. Meyer directs and Sarah Russell produces “The Shawshank Redemption,” opening this Friday, Sept. 11 and running through Monday, Oct. 4. Based on a 1982 Stephen King novella and the 1994 movie of the same name, the play chronicles a man’s imprisonment — and escape — after he is wrongfully convicted of murder. Profanities litter the dialogue, prisoners are beaten and a gang rape occurs in perhaps one of the playhouse’s more somber productions, which still finds moments of humor and tenderness. But the cast and director agreed, it was important to retain the brutality that makes the play’s uplifting ending possible. “It’s a story that deals with prison life, but it also deals with friendship,” Meyer said. “It deals with determination and hope.” David Owsley never expected to land the lead role but found himself surprisingly well-suited to playing the quiet, articulate protagonist Andy Dufresne. Convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, Dufresne maintains his innocence and plots his escape, eventually slipping out, unnoticed, through a hole he dug in his cell wall. Until then, Dufresne makes friends, discovers his enemies and aids in the prison’s money laundering scheme. Dufresne never loses hope that he can escape. Owsley said maintaining such optimism came naturally to him because he works as a pastor. “There’s been several people who’ve said, ‘Oh, you’re already 80% Andy,’” he recalled. “You’re just getting to the next 20% to fully embody him.” Playing warden Gregory Stammas came as more of a challenge to Bill Larsen, who works for the county and is a commissioner for the North Whidbey Pool, Parks and Rec district. He acted in a couple of comedic plays years ago and wanted to step outside of his comfort zone with “The Shawshank Redemption.” Stammas’ restrained cruelty and manipulative nature, demonstrated in the ambiguous role he plays in a prisoner’s suicide, is of stark contrast to Larsen’s demeanor. “I figure if I do this really well, people who see it might look at me funny out in town,” Larsen said. All of the events of the play told from the perspective of Ellis Boyd Redding, or “Red,” the inmate who becomes Dufresne’s closest friend. By the play’s end, Red is out of prison and finding adjusting to normal life somewhat difficult. He plans to reunite with Dufresne in Mexico. Jason Rasmussen devoured the novella in a little more than an hour after he was cast as Red, and the movie remains one of his favorites. The play’s uplifting message, he said, is why people should see it. “It’s about hope. You know, you can’t choose your environment, but you can choose your reaction to the environment,” Rasmussen explained. “You can choose the decisions you make along the way, and it is never too late to be a good man.” As a movie, “The Shawshank Redemption” received seven Academy Award nominations in 1995 and remains one of the more popular film adaptations of one of King’s many works. On the stage, the audience is much closer to the action than they would be watching the movie, which Owsley believes makes the story both “more real” and “more visceral.” Thrust staging, Meyer explained, also gives the production an immersive quality. That is, the stage juts out into the audience, putting some audience members alongside prison guards brandishing weapons or within arm’s reach of a brawl. Meyer explained that the thrust stage largely represents the prison yard, whereas the main stage transforms into the other locations in the play: a block of prison cells, a cafeteria and the warden’s office. Joshua Treadway, Ben Honeycutt and Steve DeHaven, who play other prisoners, and David Jackson, one of the prison guards, are familiar with thrust staging to various degrees. But they agreed that it is an effective artistic decision which serves to break down the barrier between the actors and audience. It also forces “tighter characterization” from the actors, Honeycutt added. “Everybody can see you from three directions,” he explained. “You don’t have any place you could turn and go, ‘Oh wow, I screwed that up.’” While thrust staging may intensify the play’s violence, Treadway, Honeycutt, DeHaven and Jackson agreed that such an intensity is integral to the play’s message. “It’s just a great opportunity to portray that humans contain multitudes,” Treadway said. “From the most vile among us all the way to the most saintly.” Reactions to the play may vary, but audience members can be certain they will feel something. “Everyone’s put a lot of heart into this, and I think it’s also going to be a lot of fun, even though it’s a more serious story,” Larsen said. “Redemption is in the title.”