Randy White is the founder and artistic director of the Cardinal Stage Company. He discusses their production of Michael Healey's play, The Drawer Boy, at the John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington, Indiana.
A Classic Story
"It's kind of amazing, but this show that many have never heard of is one of the four most produced plays of 2000. I think that much of the attention has come from a production by Chicago's Steppenwolf. Actor John Mahoney, who played the father on Frazier, had fallen in love with the show and he persuaded them to do it."
"The Drawer Boy is a classic the city-meets-the-country-story. We're exploiting that as part of the Community Arts Week theme, ‘Art and the Environment.' A city guy, an actor, comes to the country as part of a troupe of actors search for material to dramatize. He's staying with two old farmers, men who have a deep history that goes back to World War II. What he and we learn is an incredibly involving, surprising and heart-warming story."
Cardinal Values Variety
"Cardinal Stage Company has been alternating larger and smaller pieces. We've just done a big one, The Sound of Music and following The Drawer Boy we'll have another large musical Little Shop of Horrors. It's both an artistic and a practical choice for the company."
"Actually, we're thinking about some expansions in the coming year. We've had great success with children's shows like Frog and Toad and we're thinking about a series that focuses on that audience. At the same time we're considering a series that would offer a smaller audience some more challenging theatre."