The WTAMU Department of Theater will journey into a world where water is so scarce that you have to pay to use the restroom. The unusual concept is this year’s musical, Urinetown.
In the story, the government controls the supply of water because of a twenty-year drought. It’s illegal to use a private bathroom and the people must pay a fee to use public amenities. The main characters are Bobby Strong, a poor janitor that leads the revolution, and Hope Cladwell, the daughter of the CEO of Urine Good Company.
The musical was originally created by Mark Holmann and Greg Kotis, which was their first successful comedy that was performed in New York in 2001. Kotis got the idea for the story after being in Europe where he had to pay to use the restroom.
“Aristophanes, a Greek dramatist, tells us that every comedy should have a happy idea,” said Royal Brantley, director of Urinetown. “There’s this ridiculous notion at the heart of a comedy. Bobby sees things differently and brings a revolution to Urinetown with the inspiration of Hope.”
Chris Ratliff, a sophomore Musical Theater major who plays the role of Bobby Strong said Bobby leads the revolution.
“As I read through the lines, I thought, ‘how can a janitor who is frightened every day because of his job overcome his situation?’” he said. “When everything changes, there is no more fear for Bobby and he has to get the people to follow him.”
Brantley said he directs the performers to sing in character.
“It’s my job to make sure they perform the character well,” said Brantley.
Rarliff said he enjoyed the show.
“Our department has so many talented people and it’s so much fun to get to work with them,” he said. “At the beginning of working on the play, we worked individually on dancing, then singing, then acting, to bring it all together. It’s tough at first, but once you get it, it pops.”
Jared Roberts, a senior Technical Theater major who worked on the scenic design for the show said Brantley gave him key concepts he wanted him to work with to start the scene.
“I help with all the preparation, design and painting,” he said. “I started off as an actor, but decided to go into technical theater because there was this whole other side of acting that I didn’t know about. The whole design of theater lets me work with my creative side.
The Urinetown cast began working on the play in late September. Performances started on Nov. 10-12 and continue Nov. 16-19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Branding Iron Theater.
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