UK Theater creates escape close to Lexington

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By Amanda Laborio

The UK Theatre Department and the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill are working together to present the play “As It Is In Heaven” at Shaker Village. Student actors said the play has local significance and offers an escape for the Kentucky community.

“Before this play, what did I know about Pleasant Hill? Absolutely nothing. But it’s gorgeous there,” senior Maegan Woodlee said. “I think students would be surprised to see such a beautiful natural landscape so close to Lexington. That’s why the play is important – it’s local history.”

“As It Is In Heaven,” written by playwright and actress Beth Lincks under the pen name Arlene Hutton, is a show about nine Shaker women and their struggle to hold onto their ways in the midst of a religious revival, said theatre and arts administration sophomore Natalie Burns.

“It highlights the discipline of the Shaker women through traditional songs of worship and praise and the counters with scenes of the younger girls sighting angels, hearing heavenly music, and presenting other sisters with gift drawings,” Burns said.

Woodle as Fanny, Alys Dickerson as Polly, Susan Pope as Hannah, Genna-Gabrielle Cobb as Betsy, Katy Ochoa as Phoebe, Aylua Thomas as Jane, Natalie Nicole Burns as Izzy, Rebecca Farley as Peggy and Erica Solitaire Chappell as Rachel make up the cast of the nine Shaker women, according to the UK Theatre Department Web site.

Cobb, a theater junior, said director Rhoda Gale-Pollack made sure the actresses knew the necessary background information to play their characters.

“She helped us to visualize Shaker Village before we even got there. She made sure that we created biographies for our characters, as well as make the life of a Shaker very real to us,” Cobb said.

Pollack directed “As It Is In Heaven” during the 2008 season at Shaker Village and served as director for the production at UK at the same time as the play was being published in 2002.

The outdoor setting in the Meadow View Barn at Shaker Village served as a nice background for the play, Woodlee said.

“I have never performed outside, never had to worry about cancelling a performance because of storms, and never had to deal with the wind blowing the props across the stage,” she said.

The play offers an escape to the community, Cobb said.

“The community can come and get away from the cares of life and enjoy something special. The location is far enough away for you to feel like you are in a different world,” she said. “I think that the set and the setting helps the audience really believe in the characters that they see on the stage.”

The play opened on May 15 and continues through May 24. Tickets can be purchased on the Singletary Center for the Arts Web site, (www.singletarytickets.com), or before the shows at the Meadow View Barn at Shaker Village. For more information on the Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill, visit www.shakervillageky.org.