Mad for 'Madwoman of Chaillot'

The Madwoman of Chaillot is off South Avenue, which is better than Broadway for Garden City and surrounding area residents. The production is just as elaborate, has just as talented a cast and costs a fraction of the ticket prices for plays in Manhattan.

The Olmsted Theatre at Adelphi's Performing Arts Center (AU PAC) holds about 350 theater-goers and is equipped with great lighting and sound capabilities, which can be seen in this production.

The Madwoman by Jean Giraudoux was made into a movie that starred Katharine Hepburn and a play called Dear World starring Angela Lansbury in the 1960s. It is a timeless story of rich, greedy scoundrels versus the common people who love the beauty of the world, especially Aurelia, the Madwoman of Chaillot. Think of the current "David and Goliath" story of the nature-loving people of Ithaca, NY trying to fend off natural gas fracking by the large corporation, Chesapeake Energy.

Despite looking like "Miss Havisham" from Great Expectations (Dickens) with a haze of confusion, Aurelia tries to outwit the enemy. She's a silly old madwoman…or is she?

Madwoman stars a talented cast of Adelphi theater majors directed by associate professor of theater, Dr. Brian Rose. "The entire production was done in 25 rehearsal days. We had a hard-working, focused and talented group," he said, acknowledging that the theater department shares Olmsted with dance and other groups, which puts time pressure on each production.

Each day counts as students put in their hours of rehearsal, on top of their regular studies in other areas. No matter what their hours, they still need to face Rose at 9 a.m. the next morning as they take their theater history and Shakespeare classes with him. "You have no idea how hard these kids work on stage, and then they also need to do crew," such as set-up and take-down, gathering props and more, Rose said.

One student who has met the challenges of "off South Avenue" is Garden City resident Alexandra Porter, Class of 2013. She was originally a dancer, and was captain of her dance team at Sacred Heart High School.

"I'm confident with my dance and I surround myself with acting. I've always had a passion for the arts," Porter said. "I feel a need, a thirst to be creative and I've had an outlet for that at Adelphi." With this play Dr. Rose, "saw something in me," she said, when he cast her in the role of "The Beautiful Model" and "Press Agent Two."

In the café scene, Porter looks lovely as the model, and sets up a mini-play with her co-stars while the main characters are performing their roles. It's quite like real life with all sorts of little dramas going on simultaneously in public places.

All the characters are very talented in their roles, especially Courtney Cook from Bethlehem, PA as "Aurelia" and Leanna Simpson from Saudi Arabia, who plays the part of the haughty and imperious "President" of a big company.    

Adelphi's Theater Department will be entering this production in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival XLII, which is sponsored by the United States Department of Education and others, to be performed in Washington, D.C. next spring.

The Madwoman of Chaillot can be seen through Sunday, Oct. 10 at Adelphi University's Olmsted Theater. For ticket information, please call 516-877-4000 or visit www.aupac.adelphi.edu.