Ohio State’s Department of Theatre presents “Men in White” beginning Feb. 18, and although Sidney Kingsley wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning play 77 years ago, its topics are still relevant.
“It talks about the government taking over health care, and hello, that’s what everyone is talking about today,” said Alex Boyles, who plays Dr. Ferguson, the lead role.
Ferguson is a young doctor with plans to study abroad. His fiancée pressures him to stay home and open his own practice so he will be near her.Ferguson is uncertain and finds solace in a nurse at the hospital with whom he has an affair.
After a long line of complications, the couple is forced to consider medical procedures that are making headlines in today’s society as well, such as abortion.
Director Woodie King Jr., a 1997 Obie Award recipient for sustained achievement, is the founding director of the New Federal Theatre in New York City. He directed “Angels in America” at Ohio State in 1998 and flies between Columbus and New York to direct.
King found a copy of the 1934 film version of “Men in White” starring Clark Gable as Ferguson and showed it to the cast with no sound so they could reference the mannerisms of people in the 1930s.
Boyles said King is an enthusiastic director who is open to actors’ ideas, including those without lines.
“I really appreciate that he trusts the actors a lot,” Boyles said.
Boyles is a graduate student in the Department of Theatre who received his bachelor’s degree in theater from California State University, Long Beach.
He is versed in many styles of acting including Stanislavsky’s “Method,” which urges actors to become emotionally involved in the plot. This style which was popularized in the 1950s by Lee Strasberg who coached actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean.
Strasberg directed “Men in White” for the Group Theater in 1933.
Boyles is also familiar with episodic acting in which the actor ignores a character’s motivations in favor of the plot so the audience members can interpret the character’s thoughts for themselves.
“It is best if you can combine them all,” he said. “That way, if one fails, the others kick in.”
Opening night is the most anticipated performance for the actors, and their excitement usually results in a fantastic performance, Boyles said.
Once performances begin, actors tend to play jokes on each other backstage. “I’ll probably be handed a medical chart with a weird drawing of a cartoon on it,” Boyles said.
“Men in White” has an important message though, that strangers are more important than oneself, Boyles said.
“Everyone is so selfish now, myself included,” he said. “I’m an actor for God’s sake.”
“Men in White” runs through March 6 in the Roy Bowen Theatre in the Drake Performance and Event Center. Tickets are $12 for students and $15 for faculty.
