LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Possum Point and The Quixotic Don |
Possum Point Players, Sussex County's oldest community theatre, is in rehearsal for Man of LaMancha, a wonderful musical about the power of one man's imagination to create beauty, truth, honor and good will, to make the common uncommon, the unexceptional exceptional. The unforgettable character of Don Quixote springs forth from the imagination of author Cervantes while imprisoned in Spain during the Inquisition. To distract fellow prisoners from their plight, Cervantes enlists their help in acting out a story about a man named Alonzo Quijana and his servant, Sancho Panza. Quijana is a man of great imagination who chooses to believe that he is a knight called Don Quixote from the village of LaMancha. Some people see a glass half empty while others see a glass half full. If Sancho sees in the distance a simple inn, Quijana sees a castle. To Quijana, a shaving basin is a golden helmet. So in Quixote, Cervantes is seeking to "right the unrightable wrong," in an area that has left knighthood and the principles it stands for far behind. "Anything that is worth saying about Man of LaMancha has been said. And so I won't attempt to be original", said director Ferdi Perrone. "But having said that, I will repeat the following because it best describes the mystique surrounding Man of LaMancha and it was said by its writer Dale Wasserman: "...but there came a night when lights glowed on Howard Bay's island stage, and the audience responded to the performance with a fervor that stunned even the most sanguine of us. It was a phenomenon we were to grow familiar with at each passing performance: a sort of electricity crackling randomly among the audience for a time, then polarizing toward a massive discharge of emotion. Or, as Mr. Marre succinctly put it, "'They are not watching a play, they are having a religious experience.'" Man of LaMancha will be performed on April 28, 29, May 5, 6 at 8 p.m. and April 30 and May 7 at 2 p.m. Tickets: $13. Call 302-856-4560 for reservations. Note: The April 29 performance is sold out. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 3, Apr. 7, 2000. |