Event Article

Rehearsals for "The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail" are now in progress on the completed theatre set in the Campus Theatre.

The set, created by student Chuck Kading with the advisory help of instructor Todd Glen, is most unusual, representing a complete departure from traditional staging.

The focal point of the set is the jail, starkly black and white. Spiraling around the jail are 22 platforms of varying sizes and shape, placed at different heights in front of, around, and behind the jail. The swirl of platforms emerges boldly from vivid yellows and greens to reds and blues, and are in bizarre contrast to the blackness of the jail. The platforms represent the various areas of the mind; the somber jail is reality.

Thoreau's Thoughts depicted by platforms

During the time of Thoreau's incarceration, the thoughts of his mind, impossible to imprison, float into the various areas of his concern, as depicted by the freestyle platforms. The impression created is of ideas detached and yet integral to the center of a focal idea.

Chuck Kading, the designer, was for three years an FJC Engineering major, during which time he worked closely with the Theatre Arts Department on its set designs. He was also closely affiliated with little theatre groups. Back now after spending four years in the Air Force, Kading has returned to both his studies and the Theatre Department.

"The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail" will open Oct. 30.