NCC's new hall ready for its close-up

New beginnings often inspire a look at the past.

So it seems appropriate that the first show to be staged at North Central College's new Meiley-Swallow Hall, a former church sanctuary now housing a Shakespearean-style thrust stage, will feature a drama set in 1936 Ireland.

A student production of "Dancing at Lughnasa" opens today in the new playhouse in Naperville.

The theater is located one block north of the college's new entertainment jewel, the Wentz Concert Hall and Fine Arts Center, a facility that includes an art gallery and an experimental black-box theater. A Sept. 30 invitation-only sneak preview performance in the concert hall will launch a series of openings this fall at the new center, said Brian Lynch, the college's fine arts director.

"We're going to have this amazing core for the arts to bring a renaissance to Naperville, if you will, to add to what Naperville needs to kick it up that extra notch, to make this wonderful city even more wonderful," Lynch said.

"Dancing at Lughnasa," by Irish playwright Brian Friel, opened in Dublin in 1990 before moving to London and then Broadway, where it won three Tony Awards. The story, told through the lens of a 7-year-old boy's memories, recounts one summer in the lives of five single sisters who live together. The boy, Michael, is the youngest sister's illegitimate son.

"It's a play about setting a mood, a play about relationships," said director Deborah Palmes, North Central theater professor. "I would characterize it as sentimental and nostalgic. It's a pleasant experience for the audience. It's definitely that focus on some of the eccentricities of these sisters that the story (explores) that keeps them together."

Palmes said students returned to campus three weeks early to rehearse.

"Ordinarily, we don't do a show in the first week of class," she said. "It was Brian Lynch's idea, that the first show ought to be produced by our own college with our students in it. They've worked full-time - all day, all evening - to get this show on its feet."

Lauren Omelson, a senior performance theater major from Warrenville, plays the part of Maggie, the second-eldest daughter.

Maggie jokes around a lot, using humor as a way to break the dramatic tension in the household, Omelson said.

"She tries to make everything OK. Maggie would try to make it better for everybody," she said.

Omelson, 22, said her character is 38, quite a bit older than she is, and more earthy.

"It's exciting to transform yourself into someone totally unlike you," Omelson said.

Because the action is set in County Donegal, Palmes said a dialogue coach worked with the cast to help them reproduce an authentic sound.

"After about three minutes of listening to this language, you start to tune in to it and completely understand," Palmes said. "It becomes part of the fun of watching the play. It's playfully fun, I think, for the audience to experience some of the vowel changes."

But the real delight is the dialogue itself, she said. Unlike the 1998 movie version that relied on stunning visuals of sweeping landscapes, the play centers on the spoken word.

"The words," she said, "paint the picture."

If you go

What: North Central College's production of "Dancing at Lughnasa"

When: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 18-20 and 2 p.m. Sept. 21

Where: Meiley-Swallow Hall, 31 S. Ellsworth St., Naperville

Tickets: $10 for adults, $8 for students and seniors

Info: (630) 637-SHOW

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