'The ScArlet Letter'

When a director puts up a casting call about forbidden love and religion gone too far, theater students come running. Although many tried out for the part, only seven spots were cast for the latest production of "The Scarlet Letter" by the IU Department of Theatre and Drama. Adapted into a play by Phyllis Nagy, the book was originally written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. \nThe play opens Friday and features a cast with a wide range of experience to conquer the emotionally heightened drama. "The Scarlet Letter" is about the "dangers of mixing religious fundamentalism and the halls of government" and the "shattering effect this combination can have," according to a statement. \n"(Phyllis Nagy) bases the play closely on the novel," said Jonathan Michaelsen, theatre and drama department chair and director of the play. "She does try to bring imagery and language into contemporary setting. It's not an updated version, but she brings it closer to home."\nThe wide range of talent\nIn a tale about a woman sentenced to public humiliation for private affairs, the play explores the dynamic between characters in the midst of social change. But Michaelsen said, "The Scarlet Letter" is not a large production, with a cast of just seven. The production encompasses an unusually large array of experiences, including undergraduates and an MFA student with professional acting experience. \nSophomore Melanie Derleth plays Pearl, the daughter of Hester Prynne, the condemned woman.\n"She's very focused and committed," Michaelsen said of his youngest cast member, "She has very good instincts." \nThe experience of being in a production with more seasoned cast members is something Derleth is not used to. As the youngest cast member, she takes it as a learning experience, she said.\n"I've never been involved with anything as professionally done as 'The Scarlet Letter,'" Derleth said. "It's very humbling to have so many talented people working with you."\nAs for her character, Derleth views Pearl as a challenge. \n"I feel as if I will never be able to pin her down completely," Derleth said. "She's a complicated and tormented girl, full of insecurities and questions ... Jonathan told me once to think of her as a caged animal. This image really helped me to understand her."\nBrendan Pentzell, a graduate student studying theatre and drama, cast as Master Brackett, already has had experience working on a professional set. Having been on WB's "Roswell" and Comedy Central's "Primetime Glick," said he knows the difference between working as a professional actor and being on stage in an academic theater. \n"You're dealing with a business," Pentzell said in an e-mail, "and like any other business, you need to be aware of the market: what type am I, what are reputable theater/film companies to work for, in what cities can I best market myself given the amount of experience I have ... You need to go into the profession already equipped with a strategy." \nHe said he decided to return to school after 10 years in the industry.\n"I felt stuck in a rut with my day job and wasn't happy with my lifestyle," he said. "So much of an actor's professional life is about self-esteem and endurance and you finding what it is you need to do that will allow you to stick with the profession."\nThe benefits of the major\nIn a major that carries a lot of uncertainties about the future, Michaelsen said he has distinct notions of what is required as a theater student.\n"There's a great amount of lessons to be learned here," Michaelsen said of the department. "It requires remarkable discipline and time commitment. Students need to be prepared and focused." \nThere are also the requirements of creativity.\n"Acting and theater requires creative thinking," Michaelsen said. "You need to be able to conceptualize a written script and make it into something." \nThe cast members of "The Scarlet Letter" generally had a positive attitude toward the IU theatre and drama department.\n"In a single year, I have the chance to be considered for musicals, comedies, dramas -- a lot of schools cannot offer that," said first-year MFA student Eric VanTielen, who plays the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. "(The theatre department's) connections to the music school are important to me as well, as I do a lot of musical theater."\nSenior Elizabeth Cronin, in her first appearance on the IU stage, has traveled between drama and musical acts as well. A member of Singing Hoosiers and Ladies First, Cronin, like VanTielen, plans on moving to New York after graduation to pursue music and theater.\n"It's scary to think that I'm moving to such a big city without any certain job set, but it's also exciting," Cronin said in an e-mail. \nVanTielen has ambitious plans for New York as well.\n"There is just no other place on earth that compares to it as far as opportunity in the arts is concerned," he said. "I refuse to die without having performed in a Broadway show." \nPentzell appreciates Indiana for what it is.\n"Coming to Indiana was a nice change of environment to the big city hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. When I'm finished here, I might go back to L.A. or I might try New York, where I've never been," Pentzell said. "The most important thing is to keep acting a part of my life in some manner."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Christine Jang at chrjang@indiana.edu.