Published: November 03, 2009 11:27 pm         

Retired ISU professor lending talents to Community Theatre

TERRE HAUTE — After 38 years of serving theatre fans from the vantage point of an ISU professor, Lew Hackleman moves his directing talents to the community at large.

“I love this play,” he said Tuesday evening at the Community Theatre of Terre Haute, where the cast and crew of “The Night of the Iguana” made final preparations for Friday evening’s opening. “I’ve always wanted to be in a Tennessee Williams play but never got the chance.”

Hackleman retired from his teaching post at Indiana State University four years ago but reunited with old friends and former students on the Community Theatre stage. “The cast is exceptional. I’ve had a great time working with these people.”

Former colleague Gene England, a retired ISU professor of English, joins the cast in the role of Jake Latta, a minor role, the size of which he joked about Tuesday. But the chance to participate in a Williams play was a great draw, he said, noting that he wrote his master’s thesis on the playwright’s work.

“He’s a theatre genius and I think this is perhaps the great work of his,” England said of Williams, describing the poetic language of the play. “I think one of the great things about him is to listen to the language.”

Hackleman, England and all around lauded this production’s set and design. “I can’t imagine a better set,” England said of the work of Jon Gibbons, set designer, and Kelly Coy, set dresser.

The play is set in 1940 and revolves around the comical entanglements faced by The Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon, a cleric expelled from his Virginia church who winds up a tour guide for a busload of spinsters and a teenage girl. Leading the group to a seedy Mexican hotel, Shannon and the women’s amorous wrangling make for a lighter time than found in most Williams plays.

“It does have a hopeful ending,” Pete Ciancone, who plays Shannon, said, noting the humor involved. Ciancone is also a longtime player who, interestingly enough, got a start on stage in another Williams play, “The Glass Menagerie.”

A nemesis of Shannon’s is Miss Judith Fellowes, a Baptist vocal teacher for young ladies from Texas, played by St. Mary-of-the-Woods professor Janice Dukes.

Dukes noted that Hackleman was one of her teachers and the two have performed together in Summer Stage productions. “It’s a lot of fun to work with him again,” she said, noting the fun she’s having stretching out the vowels in her dialogue for the Texas accent. “Everything’s bigger in Texas,” she laughed.

The play runs Friday at 8 p.m. through Sunday, Nov. 15.



Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.



Opening Friday

“The Night of the Iguana” opens Friday. Performances will run Saturday and Sunday, as well as Nov. 8, 13, 14 and 15. Sunday shows begin at 2:30 p.m.

The Community Theatre of Terre Haute is located at 1431 S. 25th St. For more information call 812-232-7172.