By Nick Erickson, Staff writer
The College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the department of theatre recently presented “All In the Timing.” The play was held Feb. 22-25 in the Actor’s Studio Theatre of Wilson Hall.
The play was advertised as containing adult language and content. The show charged $10 admission but was free to students with their Murray State ID.
The play was a collection of four smaller plays by David Ives, a playwright from Chicago, Illinois. Woven to connect together, the four plays were “The Philadelphia,” “Seven Menus,” “English Made Simple” and “Sure Thing.”
Director Matthew Crider chose to overlap the plays, which were originally standalone.
“Originally in ‘All In the Timing,’ there are more than a dozen short plays, and I selected four of them that revolve around both relationships and communication,” Crider said. “In the production – only lasting around an hour – it is a fun, funny and very silly show.”
Isaac Gish, freshman theatre major from Nashville, Tennessee, took on the role of Barry in the performance, a man working in high finance, who takes on the complexity of human love, communication and all-around nature.
“I’ve been acting since the fifth grade,” Gish said. “But I really started in high school when I was accepted into Nashville School of the Arts Theatre Program.”
Gish said taking on this play was a challenge, but it was also very rewarding.
“It was some of the most brutal memorization I’ve ever encountered,” Gish said. “The lines in this show are so intricate and fast-paced that it was a challenge to get them under my belt, but it was a blast.”
Gish said his fellow cast members were some of the most talented people he had ever worked with, both in front of and behind the curtain.
Among the other cast members were Landen Bates, senior theatre major from Columbus, Ohio, and Carly Matiskie, a pre-vet and theatre double major from Royalton, Illinois.
Teddy Martin, junior from Pewee Valley, Kentucky, said the performance was the funniest and most captivating play he’d ever watched.
“I couldn’t stop laughing the whole performance,” Martin said. “The rapid-fire dialogue also made it easy to stay interested with what was happening in front of you.”
“My favorite character was by-far Barry,” he said. “Isaac’s memorization of his lines in ‘English Made Simple’ was quite impressive.”
Gish said he’s optimistic for the numerous upcoming plays on campus.
“We’re having a performance of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ coming up,” Gish said. “We also have W. Earl Brown, from ‘Deadwood’ coming into play the role of Big Daddy!”
For anyone interested in the upcoming plays, visit murraystatetickets.com or call 270-809-4421 for ticket information.