Published: April 15, 2017
Controversial story coming to UW-WC stage
‘Of Mice and Men’ can be seen Friday and
April 22 in West Bend
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Dramas at the community theater level are a
risk.
“When you’re not at the level of the
professional level of theater, dramas are few and far between because, to be
quite honest, dramas are hard to sell,” actor Nicholas Callan Haubner said.
“People like to go and feel happy and entertained.”
Paul Steinbach and his cast believe they can do
that as they get set to tell one of the most controversial stories of the last
100 years.
Steinbach is director and producer for the University
of Wisconsin-Washington County’s and Seventh Row Center LLC’s production of “Of
Mice and Men,” which goes on stage at 7:30 p.m. Friday and April 22 at UW-WC’s
Theatre on the Hill in West Bend.
For Steinbach, he’s wanted to perform this
story on stage for almost five years. To him, it’s a nobrainer of a story that
needs to be told.
However, getting others to agree with him has
been a challenge.
“I really wanted to do this play,” Steinbach
said. “I shopped it around to the local groups that I’ve been a part of in the
past and nobody expressed great enthusiasm to do it.”
“Of Mice and Men” was written by John Steinbeck
and published in 1937. It is the story of two men, George Milton and Lennie
Small, two migrant workers moving from place to place in California looking for
work during The Great Depression. A few months later, it was adapted to the
stage and premiered on Broadway. Two years later, the story made its big-screen
debut. Since then, there have been several adaptations.
However, since its release, according to the
American Library Association, “Of Mice and Men” is consistently on the
organization’s list of the “Most Challenged Books of the 21st century.”
The reason is because of its offensive
language, such as the use of the “n” word, racism and violence.
In an effort to get the story told, Steinbach
launched Seventh Row Center LLC. It is Steinbach’s first appearance on the
UW-WC stage since he was in “Sound of Music” with Musical Masquers in 2012.
“Its language is very raw and we haven’t
sanitized our version at all,” Steinbach said. “That’s out of respect to John
Steinbeck. I wouldn’t do it any other way.”
In 2001, the story was No. 2 on ALA’s list,
behind the Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling.
Yet, Steinbach said a poll of American
literature teachers once ranked “Of Mice and Men” at No. 4 on a list of the 100
titles in U.S. literature history.
“That says a lot,” he said.
“In a simple way, it touches so many things
that we are still dealing with in the U.S. today,” Steinbach said. “Racism,
classism, sexism, how we treat individuals with disabilities. I mean, it was
decades ahead of its time. Obviously, those issues existed in 1937,
they still exist and that’s why the story still
resonates.”
Steinbach also said the story remains important
80 years later because it still represents what is believed to be the American
dream.
“The dream of one day having your own little
piece of dirt and living on your terms. Not somebody else’s,” Steinbach said.
It is a story that should be appreciated, not
frowned upon.
“This story is beautifully written,” Steinbach
said. “I’m a writer by day. Steinbeck use literary devices, most notably
foreshadowing, in brilliant ways, in ways that I can read this story dozens of
times and still find examples of how we weaves the plot so deftly.
“It’s really a pleasure to read every time.”
He believes he has the cast to tell the story
as it was meant to be when it was published in 1937.
This cast doesn’t lack experience or talent.
Haubner plays one of the lead characters,
Lennie, who is mentally disabled, but physically strong. It is already
Haubner’s third production of 2017.
The 28-year-old Milwaukee native portrayed
Michael in “33 Variations” at Waukesha Civic Theatre and John in “The Lion in
Winter” for the Pride Theatre Company.
Last summer, he played Gaston in the Hartford
Players’ production of “Beauty and the Beast.”
He also played Hubert in “King John” and Astrov
in “Uncle Vanya” with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Recently, Haubner was nominated for two
Footlights Performing Arts awards — Best Supporting Performance in a Play with
“33 Variations” and Best Leading Performance in a Play as Oscar in “Odd Couple”
with SummerStage of Delafield.
Jake Cox, who plays Curley, received a Tommy
Award in 2013 for his portrayal of Lumiere in Slinger High School’s “Beauty and
the Beast.” The Tommy Award recognizes high school musical theater
performances.
Melf Gourlie, who plays Candy, has appeared in
17 productions with Mayville’s Marais Players since 2000. Simon McGhee, who
plays Whit, was recipient of the Tom Vogelsang Memorial Scholarship for UW-WC
communications and theater majors.
They are taking on a controversial story in a
hard-to-sell genre with their best.
“It was Paul’s dream to do this, has been for
years since I’ve known him,” said Peter Gibeau, who is a UW-WC music professor
and president of Musical Masquers in West Bend.
Gibeau also has a part in the story, playing
Slim.
“I’m on the fine arts committee here and I
thought, ‘Well, we’ve had drama before,’” Gibeau said. “We could do this.”
Haubner said he is drawn to dramatic roles.
“As an actor I look for text that has humanity
in it that I feel like I want to tell, tell that story,” he said. “I think with
the language like you have in this, things
that are raw, things that speak truth, tell
great stories, lots of drama fulfill that.
“What’s great with ‘Of Mice and Men,’ if you
strip everything away from it, it’s really just ... everyone’s looking for
their own little piece of happiness, their own American dream.”
