Minnesota State University Reporter

Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Theater and Dance

Sister Bessie (Lolly Foy, left) shares an intimate moment with Dude (Andy Gullikson) in the MSU Theatre Department's play "Tobacco Road."

The current economic recession has begun to mimic the Great Depression of more than 70 years ago.

The Minnesota State Theatre and Dance Department opens its latest studio show on Thursday about just that topic: the Great Depression.

"Tobacco Road," a classic American drama written by Erskine Caldwell and one of the longest-running productions ever staged on Broadway, tells the story of the Lesters, a family of white share-croppers in Georgia made destitute by the Depression.

"It's offensive, and then at times sad that this is what these people were going through," said director Jerry Jay Cranford, a second-year MFA candidate. "They're there and these horrible things that they do happen because of where they are in life, this life they've been forced into through the share-cropping system and lack of education and money. It's not necessarily that they're bad people, they just have no hope."

The family, so ruined by poverty that most of its creditors have given up on collecting, turn to a continuous line of selfishness and ignorance to survive the times. Their lives are preoccupied by hunger, sexual longings and the ever-present fear that the family will fall further down the social ladder than the black families surrounding them.

"It deals with a lot of issues of things that were going on in the Depression, which a lot of it we're sort of experiencing again today, so it makes it relevant," Cranford said. "It basically shows these people who have lost everything. [They] have no education, no money, no source of income. The last thing to go is their morals. They have nothing left, so they're morally bankrupt."

In order to embody the desolate setting of the Depression, "Tobacco Road" employs some real scenery. Scenic designer undergraduate Amanda Rozmiarek, who earlier this season designed for the mainstage production of "Harvey," incorporated a 24-foot tree from Mankato, as well as wood from an actual old barn salvaged from Claremont, Minn.

Referring to the actual depression-like recession that is indicative of the times, Cranford thanked the donors of the real scenery and mentioned the budget cuts that the recession has forced not only on MSU, but on educational institutions around the United States.

Despite the budget cuts, the department spares little in the performance department. The hard-hitting play includes some very mature themes and language.

"It has its racy moments and there is certainly language that we consider unacceptable that in that day and age, especially in the south, was prevalent," Cranford said. "Erskine Caldwell that wrote the book was very pro-human rights and felt it necessary to leave in a lot of this language, because when the book was circulated he felt that a lot of his friends in New York and the world did not understand how bad it still was, and that there were still lynchings, and the incest and the things that just were going on. He wanted to really shine the light on that."

Despite the play's offensive material, desperately sad story and mature language and themes, it carries a very real message that parallels modern times.

Cranford, who played the priest in "See What I Wanna See" earlier in the season, recognizes this parallel and says audiences should embrace the story and themes presented in "Tobacco Road."

"It is a classic, and it is relevant to where we are heading today. When people get more and more taken away from them, they lose that sense of hope," Cranford said. "It serves as a cautionary tale that as a society we have to take care of our lowest members. If not, then no one can survive and no one can be happy. No one can live a fulfilled life without looking out for the weakest link."

Kylie Schultz is a Reporter staff writer

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools