11/16/07

Dance parties, Halloween night festivities, awkward family outings and running over an animal all have one thing in common: They all take place in a car, which is exactly what Baker University’s theater production “Marcus is Walking” was about this past weekend.

There were four performances with Saturday’s coinciding with Baker’s Senior Weekend, meaning the seats were filled with students, faculty and a number of visiting high school seniors.

Stage Manager Brandi Dority said she couldn’t believe what a good turnout the show had.

“This was such a fun play to do because of all the different scenes and different characters,” she said. “I never knew how many exciting things could happen in a car.”

Providing the audience with such a variety of characters, situations and languages added more work for the participants.

Senior Ashley Pike said even though she had to memorize three different scenes, she loved every minute of it.

“When you play a certain character, it is kind of like losing a friend when the show is over, and in this case, I lost three separate friends,” she said. “It’s the different mannerisms, voices and languages that defines each character, and that is what I enjoyed most about doing this show, the fact that you get to portray so many people in one production.”

Freshman Courtney West said not only did she enjoy participating in the show, but that it was amazing to work with the cast.

“This is my second play I have done at Baker, and so far this is my favorite,” she said. “I was glad one of the nights fell on BU (Senior Weekend) because I think it was a great play to show what Baker is capable of.”

Freshman Lindsay Wineinger attended Thursday’s show and said there were a couple of scenes where she could relate to the characters.

“One of the scenes involved a girl accidentally running over an animal and feeling really bad about it,” she said. “That same thing happened to me, and it was funny because I could relate to what she was feeling.”

Wineinger said she even noticed some of the visiting high school seniors getting into the play.

“A couple of the high school girls I was hosting Saturday night were laughing all throughout the play and said they really liked watching it, which was really good for me to hear.”

Wineinger said the timing added to her enjoyment of the play.

“I thought having a comedy had good timing because it was really nice to be able to go and watch the play after being stressed out with school and everything,” she said.

Pike said she thinks this show had the best response since she has been here.

“Every year is totally different, and every year you learn so much from every single show,” she said. “I could not have hoped for a better play to be a part of.”