GENTRY: And now Great Arts at Eastern. Coming to you from the Portales campus of Eastern New Mexico University. I'm Jeff Gentry, Dean of the College of Fine Arts here on KENW, Your Public Radio Network. Today my guest is Israel Stacy, a student in the ENMU theater program. He appears in the play, Everybody premiering tonight via Zoom worldwide. Thank you for joining me today.
STACY: Of course.
GENTRY: Israel, you're a freshman Theatre major. Tell me about your previous experience as an actor.
STACY: So, my previous experience as an actor goes throughout the entirety of my high school career. In fact, the very first show I was ever in was a show called Monty Python's Spamalot, the musical. And I had auditioned for the show, not expecting to get a major part. And I ended up actually getting the lead within the show. And that was the first musical / show I had ever been a part of. And from there, that's what really kicked off my theater career, with my most recent musical being Fiddler on the Roof, in which I played Tevye.
GENTRY: Very good, so did you play the King in Spamalot?
STACY: Yes, I did. King Arthur.
GENTRY: Well, I didn't vote for you. Alright, so this semester, you're taking every class. A lot of classes from film analysis all the way to biology. How are those going for you under COVID-19?
STACY: Well, it's definitely a very different experience. As for biology and those types of courses, it's not too different because they are lecture-type courses, of course.
GENTRY: Um-hum.
STACY: But for classes like dramatic analysis, it's been very hard. In that, it's easier to experience those classes in person. Because it feels like there's better grounding for us to have more of a conversation about what we're reading. Or the play that we're looking at.
GENTRY: Sure, sure. Now in your current production of Everybody. This is a universal kind of theme, but how does this show speak to you personally.
STACY: Well, it speaks to me personally. In that, there are a lot of scary things surrounding death. And that's definitely something that this show explores. And it's interesting how we always look at death and wondering wonder what comes after. And in doing that, we look a lot at life itself. And that's just in a very intriguing concept that is explored within this show, in something that I have thought about even before this show great.
GENTRY: Yeah, we had your director Ricky Quintana last week, and he spoke to some of those same things.
STACY: Um-hm.
GENTRY: So, you'll find out which role you're playing this evening.
STACY: Oh Yeah.
GENTRY: How many possibilities are there?
STACY: If I am not mistaken, let me count it out real fast. I believe there are about nine different characters that I could end up playing.
GENTRY: OK, and so that can vary show to show right 'cause you open tonight at 7 via Zoom.
STACY: Yes.
GENTRY: And then you go tomorrow night and Saturday night and then Sunday afternoon.
STACY: Um-hum.
GENTRY: So, you got four shows.
STACY: Oh yeah!
GENTRY: So, you might play 4 different characters.
STACY: Absolutely.
GENTRY: So that's exciting, and this is live theater, folks. So, you're going to be seeing. These are seeing and hearing these actors adjusting to a random selection of their role. Which is very innovative. Which kind of comes from Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's idea itself the playwright. So now what can we expect some scenic and lighting effects from faculty designer Adam Whittredge.
STACY: Oh, absolutely, that has been something that we have been working on a lot of the past couple of days. We have managed to be to send out lights to everybody. And we have our own lighting setup. And we have some cool graphic effects that are also going to be occurring throughout the show.
GENTRY: Well, that is fantastic, Israel Stacy. It's been great to talk to you. Everybody is written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, directed by Ricky Quintana. It opens tonight at 7:00 PM through Saturday evening at 7 all through and then Sunday at 2:00 PM. the play is free to the public worldwide you can register at enmu.edu/theatrelive. So, Israel, thanks so much for being with us today.
STACY: Thank you so much for having me.
GENTRY: And thanks to our listeners, this is KENW, Your Public Radio Network.
Everybody
Written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Ricky Quintana
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 | 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 | 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021 | 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 | 2 p.m.