Is anybody young enough anymore for rebellion and idealism? That's a central question at The Next Stage's production of Willy Holtzman's Something You Did, debuting at the State Theatre starting Friday.
Inspired by Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" -- which quotes "Look out, kid, it's somethin' you did" -- the play takes place in the present but stems from events that happened in the 1970s, director Jay Shuchter said.
The play is about a woman named Alison Moulton, who was jailed at the age of 19 and has been imprisoned for nearly 30 years. After her father's death, she is up for a parole hearing, said Carine Eyoum, who plays Alison's corrections officer, Uneeq.
Shuchter said the inspiration for the play stemmed from the people who were college students in 1970 and 1975 and were strongly opposed to the Vietnam War, which spread to Cambodia.
They set off bombs in order to make a statement but the plan goes awry.
The accidental explosion kills a police officer, and a woman -- enter Alison Moulton, played by professional actress Cary Anne Spear -- goes to jail, Shuchter said.
Mary Skees, producing artistic director for The Next Stage, said these fictional bombs were not meant to kill -- the students set them off late at night and even called in bomb threats to evacuate the building. They were only meant to make a statement against the war.
The play takes place in mod-
ern times, 30 years after the incident.
Although the play reflects the feelings and movements of some young people in the 1970s, the story was altered from the truth.
In reality, the incident involved several students who were in need of money and decided to rob a Brinks security truck.
There was a shootout, and a policeman was killed.
"For me, this play is political revolution -- the consequences of it, as well as restitution from the consequences," Eyoum (senior-African and African American Studies) said.
The play has five actors, two of whom are professionals. Lenora, the daughter of the policeman, is played by Cynthia Henderson, a Penn State graduate who is now a professional actress and a professor of theatre at Ithaca College in New York.
Skees said Something You Did follows the unintentional theme of The Next Stage's season -- imprisonment and freedom -- which
she and Shuchter realized belatedly.
Skees said she and Shuchter first saw the play by accident when it premiered in New York, and immediately decided it was something they wanted to produce.
"We said, 'Yes, this is something we want to do,' because it's about something, it's got substance," Skees said.
She also said it was a good pick because it had a smaller cast, an advantage for smaller-market State College.
Shuchter said although the play is made up, it's a compelling story and ultimately about real life. He said it poses several questions -- "Who gets to define patriotism, terrorism, idealism? When is past past?"
Shuchter and Skees both say they are intrigued by the question of whether or not youth is still the time for idealism and rebellion. Shuchter suggested this is an age when it's corny to care about anything.
"Do people still care enough to put themselves on the line and take chances -- to fight for something they believe is right?" Skees said. "Sex, dope and alcohol haven't changed, but is there still idealism?"
