Denton theater troupe works like Clockwork

by Addley Fannin of North Texas Daily

Sundown Collaborative Theatre's unusual way of organizing theater is being put to the test with the biggest production the group has ever attempted, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.

Sundown Collaborative is not the average theater troupe.

Unlike most theater organizations, where cast and crew responsibilities remain almost, if not completely, separate with one person usually covering each specific task, the members of Sundown Collaborative Theatre often juggle many duties at once and work together as a group to create their shows.

"Oftentimes in theater, you'll have the director, the designers and maybe a couple of producers get together and decide which way to go," said theater senior Joey Folsom, the show's director. "As a result, you get a bunch of actors who don't really know what their point is or what message they're trying to get across. That's why at Sundown, we collaborate and we all have the same goal."

Now, the group's unusual way of organizing theater is being put to the test with the biggest production the group has ever attempted, Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange.

Based in a speculative, dystopian future United Kingdom, A Clockwork Orange centers around a teenager named Alex DeLarge, the leader of a violent group of teenagers who indulge in shoplifting, "ultra-violence" and rape to satisfy their own desires.

"He starts off the play full of anger towards society and everything around him, and he takes it out through his own means of violence and rape," said UNT alumnus Zane Harris, who plays Alex. "His comrades kind of betray him, and he ends up being institutionalized. Once that happens, the play really takes off, and you see the deconstruction of Alex as a person. You see what he is versus what they wanted to be."

When Alex's friends betray him, the show reveals its true theme, which focuses on the nature of human choice.

Though there have been multiple stage adaptations of A Clockwork Orange, as well as a movie, the script that Sundown Collaborative Theatre will perform is the only one written by Burgess, the author of the original novel.

"Burgess was very unhappy with Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the movie," Folsom said. "I believe that the reason he wrote this play was to focus as much as possible on the concept of human choice, how important it is and how we should value that."

Unlike most of the community theater productions throughout Denton, A Clockwork Orange focuses on some adult themes and includes strong subject matter not meant for younger audiences.

"Part of what Sundown is about is doing shows that push the envelope - shows that are edgy or more adult theater," Folsom said. "You don't usually get that around here - the closest you can get is Dallas or Fort Worth. We want to fill that niche of a different kind of theater."

The show's violent nature required some careful fight coordination to ensure none of the actors involved would be injured. It also resulted in a few misunderstandings with community members outside the troupe.

"During the rehearsal process, we had the police called on us five times because the neighbors thought that bad stuff was happening," said theater senior Christopher Shankland, the show's executive producer. "The neighbors kept thinking that people were being violently assaulted and that diabolical things were happening."

Despite such interruptions and the natural conflict that comes from working in such an usual group, the members of Sundown Collaborative Theatre said they are proud of the final results of their hard work.

"It's a little hard to coordinate sometimes, but we find that the pros far outweigh the cons," Folsom said. "There is conflict and complications, but sometimes you get the best results out of disagreement because that leads to compromise and, eventually, the best thing for everyone involved."

Performances for A Clockwork Orange will be held at 9 p.m. on Oct. 23 to 25, 29 and 31 with and additional midnight showing on Oct. 30 at the Green Space Arts Collective in Denton. Tickets are $8.

For more information, visit myspace.com/sundowntheatre.

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