Emmy winner Pinney directs ‘Oklahoma!’

When most theatergoers think of the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical “Oklahoma!,” they might recall sitting in the audience of a high school performance, struggling to keep their eyes open.

But with a talented cast and an award-winning director, audiences can expect to stay wide awake during the IU Department of Theatre and Drama’s upcoming production.
“The original concept of the show was ‘not your grandma’s Oklahoma,’” said graduate student and lighting designer Sean Smallman.

He said the idea is to make the show more realistic and believable.

“So it’s not just jazz hands and bright lights,” Smallman said.

“Oklahoma!” tells the unfolding love story of Curly McLain, played by junior Mark Banik, and Laurey Williams, played by sophomore Kerry Ipema. But Jud Fry, played by gradudate student Henry McDaniel III, also has his sights set on Laurey. He asks her to the box social dance.

While Curly is a happy-go-lucky cowboy who loves the land and Laurey, Laurey is an independent woman who doesn’t think she needs the help of a man.
“She’s very much into doing her own work and not counting on anybody else,” Ipema said.

Throughout the show, she transitions from a down-and-dirty farm worker to a feminine young woman in love. Ipema said her progression is evident in her costumes, designed by Robbie Stanton.

“She ends in a dress but starts in overalls,” she said.

The background of the set, designed by graduate student and scenic designer Jared Rutherford, is made of clapboard cutouts of rolling hills lined with a light blue picket fence.

“The lighting is there to support the action on stage, to support the show,” Smallman said. “It’s much more subtle than other shows. It’s to add time of day and location as opposed to being overly dramatic.”

The lighting and set amplify the southern feel as cast members sing crowd favorites like “Oklahoma” and “Surry With The Fringe On Top.”

“Singing ‘Oklahoma,’ the main song of the show, is just the most patriotic and empowering feeling that I’ve felt in a long time,” Banik said. “It’s all about the ... American spirit.”

Many of the cast members’ favorite part of the show is the ballet at the end of the first act. Traditionally, very few characters other than Laurey and Curly are in the scene, director-choreographer George Pinney said, but he chose to include the entire 34-member cast.

Aiming for an ensemble-based show, Pinney assigned each cast member a name, encouraging them to develop backgrounds to their characters, Ipema said.

“He really gave us the freedom to play around with how we know each other to give it some reality and truth,” sophomore and cast member Matthew Martin said. “Everyone’s intermingled. Everyone knows each other, so it gives a sense of a real world on stage.”

Ipema and Banik said they agree that Pinney has made the rehearsal process easy.

“He kind of lets me do my thing and then works with me on that,” Banik said. “Really it’s a collaborative process, and he really respects what people have to say and contribute to the work.”

Although Pinney has an Emmy Award for his choreography in the PBS broadcast of “Blast!,” he said his heart is in his teaching.

“I know considering careers back in high school, I knew I would always end up in the classroom,” he said. “And the fact that I can teach my art is just the absolute bonus.”

Banik said she truly believes that anyone can appreciate the show.

“It is about loving people around you and appreciating life and understanding other people, and getting over your differences and really big themes that are always true,” he said. “Really, like Shakespeare in a way.”