THEATER DEPARTMENT PREPARING TO PUT ON UNIQUE PERFORMANCE

MHCC has had a long history in the performing arts: Just ask Daryl Harrison-Carson, a 20-year veteran instructor and technical director for this year’s fall theatre performance, which is shaping up to be exceptional in more ways than just one.

For starters, Harrison-Carson and part-time assistant Julie Akers, who is the director for this year’s play, have decided to put a spin on Kathryn Schultz Miller’s “Sword in the Stone” that will be unique to MHCC’s performance. The script will be reimagined as children acting out the events of the legendary King Arthur’s childhood in their imaginations.

The set, designed by Harrison-Carson, is meant to emulate a play structure, complete with seesaws and monkey bars. She noted that there are a lot of quick scene changes in the script, and this was a creative solution to that problem that helps gives the play a sense of magic.

Another, albeit more extenuating, detail surrounding this play is that the Mt. Hood theatre department’s head, Mace Archer, is currently taking a yearlong sabbatical. Harrison-Carson is the only full-time faculty member working in the department; the other members are either part-time faculty or hired by college specifically for the play.

She concedes that progress in the department is a bit “chaotic” right now, but said she is glad that the students are getting to work with different directors and faculty members, which gives more opportunities to make connections that can lead to theatre internships.

One such contracted individual is Kristen Mun, who creates on-stage fight choreography. The Mt. Hood play is set to have plenty of action and sword fights, and special swords of reinforced metal have to be used on stage. Since the swords will be used repeatedly over the course of many rehearsals and performances, they have to be exceptionally sturdy to ensure that they don’t wear down and break during the performance.

The actors have been rehearsing their fight scenes in slow motion to get the choreography down, and, thanks to Mun’s expertise, Harrison-Carson is happy to report that there have been no accidents or severed limbs.

The Sword in the Stone is set to open at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 4. Buses from local elementary schools also will be bringing schoolchildren to see the play, and hopefully inspire them to pursue the theatre, on Nov. 6, 8, 13, 15, and 18.

The matinee will be performed at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 16, which Harrison-Carson recommends as the best time for MHCC students to attend as there are no class conflicts, and the theater will not be hosting elementary field trips that day.

The play has a runtime of under an hour, and will cost $2 per person. However, since it is considered a children’s play, Mt. Hood is willing to waive the $2 entry fee for anyone unable to pay and who wants to experience the magic of the theatre for the first time.