‘Sleepy’ co-stars make debut on MHCC stage

The male leads in the theater department’s Children’s Theater production of ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” may be new to MHCC — but not to the performance scene.

Evan Wollam and Drew Pierce will take to the stage Monday in the College Theater to take on the roles of Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane

For Wollam, who went to Eagle Valley High School in Gypsum, Colo., this is his first play at MHCC although he has been acting for more than 10 years and voice acting for five years.

Wollam said, “I came to (MHCC to) hone some technical skills and decided to give (the play) a try.”

Wollam will portray Brom Bones, the play’s bully and arch nemesis of Ichabod. “Pretty much, Brom is the all-American hero. He is the equivalent of the homegrown high school football player.”

“I think I only really relate to my character in size. Brom is the mean guy. I don’t see myself as mean. Brom has been taught that physical strength is the only true strength.”

Wollam said the relationship between his character and Pierce’s Ichabod is “a relationship of pure animosity. Pretty much the first day I see him I’m like,

‘Who is this goof?’ He (Brom) realizes that Ichabod is after his love interest, Katrina, so what started out as a bullying has turned into a one-on-one duel.”

As far as his career goals, he said, “I would definitely like to make it big as an actor. I wouldn’t mind doing theater or movies but I’m mostly trying to break into the voice acting bracket.”

Recent Sandy High school graduate Drew Pierce will portray the geeky, intellectual Ichabod Crane.

Pierce has been acting for three years and performed in eight shows in high school, playing lead characters in several of those shows. Two of the roles were the dad in “Leaving Iowa” and William Randolph Hearst in “The Cat’s Meow.”

“He’s kind of a wimp. He’s an intellectual type. He prides himself on intellect and how well read he is,” Pierce said of his character.

Wollam said, “There is no hero. Ichabod is a jackass, Brom is a jackass. They are just different sides of the scale.”

Pierce said he feels he can relate to his character because, “particularly in middle school, I was bullied a lot. Bullies can read when someone is easy to mess with and Ichabod has that and Brom picks up on it.”

Pierce, regarding his character’s relationship with Brom, said, “He’s like the big wolf on campus, I want to be cool with him. It’s like the un-cool kid wanting to be cool with the cool kid even though he’s a jerk.”

Pierce is a theater major and is a vocalist in a metal group. He also writes lyrics.

Show dates for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” are Nov. 7, 9, 14, 16 and 18 at 10:30 a.m. and Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. The shows on the Nov. 16 and 18 are sold out.

The show runs at just under an hour and tickets are $2. Tickets can be purchased at the door and reserve seats for the morning shows are available by calling the box office at 503-491-7154. Tickets for the Nov. 19 show are available in the College Theater Lobby Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to noon.