Monday, July 9, 2018 | Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
COURTESY PHOTO
Michael Bayler, a second-year M.F.A. actor, rehearses as George Gibbs in the 2018 IU Summer Theatre production of “Our Town.” The show runs until July 28.
‘Our Town’ is in town Everyday American life is celebrated in IU Theatre’s new production. By Christine Fernando ctfernan@iu.edu
With just a 16-member cast and a minimal set of only a few tables and chairs, the Wells-Metz Theatre will transform into the charming town of Grover’s Corners for the play “Our Town.” The production, which runs from July 6 to 28, will celebrate the play’s 80th anniversary this year. The play, set in the early 1900s and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Thornton Wilder, follows the lives and stories of the citizens of Grover’s Corners in three acts: “Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage” and “Death and Eternity.” “It’s a great American play about the experience of everyday life, love and
death,” Director Dale McFadden said. “It has some serious reflections about the infinite, the fact that death is a part of living and the dead help us to remember how we should live our own lives.” As the play opens, the town doctor, Dr. Gibbs, returns from a successful childbirth, which contrasts with the focus on death in the final act. “It comes full circle,” Jay Hemphill, who plays Dr. Gibbs, said. “I think it’s really representative of the circle of life.” The plot of the first act is simple, even mundane, Hemphill said, but they reflect people’s everyday lives. Hemphill said the act explores the struggles, pain and questions people pose about how they should live life and if they are making the right choices. “It’s just life, and life can be mun-
dane,” Hemphill said. “Life and death occurs, and then there’s the everyday stuff in between.” For George, the main character and 16-year-old son of Dr. Gibbs, the first act is a turning point, said Michael Bayler, the actor playing George. Bayler said his character is just beginning to make his own decisions and be responsible, something he said would be especially relatable to high school- and college-aged audience members. “He’s moving from being in his own bubble to experiencing more about what’s happening in the world around him,” Bayler said. The second act considers love and marriage when George falls in love with, and eventually marries, another Grover’s Corners resident, Emily. While he
said many people read George and Emily’s relationship as sappy, Bayler sees it as pure and honest in how his character finds someone to whom he can reveal his thoughts without fear of judgment. People in different stages of life will see something different in the relationship, Bayler said. Some may see a layer of hope. Others may see reason to enjoy the present, rather than being preoccupied with the past or future. Still others, Bayler said, will see a sense of anxiety as two young people make a decision that will affect the rest of their lives. “You see doubt and uncertainty before the wedding, which is just as real and honest as the prettier part of falling in love,” Bayler said. SEE TOWN, PAGE 3
Gallery highlights art across the nation From IDS reports
MATT BEGALA | IDS
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill introduces Mike Pence at the Donald Trump rally May 10, in Elkhart, Indiana. On July 2, Hill was faced with allegations by four different women that he had inappropriately touched them at a party on March 15.
State leaders call for Curtis Hill to resign By Dominick Jean drjean@imail.iu.edu | @Domino_Jean
Top Indiana Republicans have called for Attorney General Curtis Hill to resign or face removal after four different women accused him of sexually harassing them March 15. In addition, the formerly anonymous lawmaker who reported Hill had grabbed her buttocks has come forward as Mara Candelaria Reardon, a state representative from Munster, Indiana. “As I continue to deal with the harm perpetrated by Indiana’s top law enforcement official, I must also deal with the reality that there is no process by which Curtis Hill, an independently elected official, can be held accountable,” Reardon said in a letter to the IndyStar. The independent law firm, Taft Stettinius & Hollister, which investigated Reardon’s claims, quotes an unattributed source in the internal memo it produced who said Hill came up to Reardon, slid his hands down her back and “grabbed a
handful of ass.” At that point she told him to back off, only to have him grab her buttocks again. The representative again told him to back off. Indiana Democrats were some of the first to ask for Hill to resign, but the Republicans have now joined in that same request. Governor Eric Holcomb, House Speaker Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, and Senate President David Long, R-Fort Wayne, all issued statements asking for Hill to resign in the wake of these allegations. Holcomb said there is no place for sexual harassment within the Indiana GOP and he supports a thorough investigation. “Four women had the courage to step forward to report sexual harassment by the Indiana Attorney General,” Holcomb said in the release. “The findings of the recent legislative report are disturbing and, at a minimum, show a violation of the state’s zero tolerance sexual harassment policy.” Bosma and Long were both clear that while Hill was not an
employee of theirs and they cannot terminate his employment, he should resign at once due to these allegations. Top Republican women in the state joined Holcomb in calling for Hill’s resignation. Lt. Governor Susan Crouch and Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, two of the highest ranked Republican women in the state, were among the first to release statements. “Indiana deserves a safe work environment, which extends beyond the workplace,” Lawson said. “I am disappointed that I must make such a call, but Attorney General Hill should resign. Our state leaders are held to a higher standard and must behave in such a manner.” Lawson, along with Treasurer Kelly Mitchell and Auditor Tera Klutz, are the only women running for statewide elected positions in 2018 and all of them are Republicans. On July 3, Hill said he would not resign. He said Hoosiers elected him attorney general by a large
margin, and he will continue to honor his commitment to Indiana. Holcomb, even though he is the governor, is not able to force Hill to resign, since Hill’s position is a separately-elected executive position within the state government. The Indiana Constitution, while it does not permit recall elections under any circumstance, does allow for an elected official to be impeached either by the state legislature or a circuit court for committing a crime. An elected official could also be removed because he does not comply with a specific requirement of the Constitution. Some of those requirements according to the Indiana Constitution are: not being convicted of a felony, not being habitually drunk and living in the election district. Hill, if he chooses to not resign, could face possible impeachment by the House of Representatives and be tried by the Senate or impeached by a joint resolution by the entire General Assembly.
Echoing the wandering philosophy of author Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” Sharon and Jessica Bussert bought an RV in 2014. After grabbing their cat and dog, the couple spent the next three years journeying across the United States, taking photographs. By Hand Gallery, located at 101 W. Kirkwood Ave., No. 109, opened On the Road, a gallery presenting the Busserts’ photography from the trip, on July 6. The gallery will be on display until Aug. 31, and is free to the general public. Starting and ending in Brown County, the couple explored national and state parks, and stopped at various towns on their journey to the West Coast. “Fog House” and “Waterfall at Strahl Lake,” two photographs taken in Indiana, depict natural vistas within the state. Others highlight stops from their journey. Some stops from their journey highlighted in the photogaphy include Yosemite National Park, the Oregon Coast, the Colombia River Gorge in Oregon, Northern California, the Nevada desert and Glacier National Park in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. The couple shot their photographs with modern digital cameras and a 70-year-old large format, using an ice fishing tent as a mobile darkroom for their photography. They also experimented with different photographic processes, such as tintypes, ambrotypes and pinhole photography. All of the images were chemically processed and printed to Kodak archival papers and are available for purchase. Prints are available dry-mounted or traditional matting and framing. Clark Gudas