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<\/a>Actor Jacob Scherer portrayed Blick, a villainous cop; Krupp, a side character; and the Drunk, a minor character.<\/p><\/div>\n
WIliam Saroyan’ play tells the story of a San Francisco waterfront honky tonk around the time America was recovering from the Great Depression and World War II was looming. Its patrons could forget about their loneliness, and, instead, live the time of their lives. It had a small cast of about 15 students but each part was \u201cmeaty.\u201d What follows are the recollections of two cast members and a few audience members tracked down by this reporter.<\/p>\n
Jacob Scherer, 21, portrayed three characters: Blick, a villainous cop; Krupp, a side character; and the Drunk, a minor character. Scherer, a senior and a theater major, said that Blick\u2019s role was \u201cgetting people in the bar to fear me and follow the law.\u201d Blick\u2019s character is a mean-spirited police officer. \u201cThe show has little plot. It revolves around the people who come in and out of the bar,\u201d said Scherer.<\/p>\n
He described the audiences’ reactions to what he felt was the most \u201cunusual\u201d scene for him to play. \u201cThe one moment that always got an interesting response was my scene in Act 5 where I interrogate a character, Kitty, and beat up two other characters in the bar,\u201d he said. \u201cI recall one night where as my character is forcing Kitty to do a burlesque dance and say, \u2018Start taking them off.\u2019 I heard an audience member say, \u2018Oh God.\u2019 It was the most viscerally horrible thing I\u2019ve yet to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n Rehearsals for Time of Your Life, according to Scherer, were \u201cgood\u201d overall, but many times actors were sent home early because \u201cthe director only wanted to work with a few characters that night.\u201d<\/p>\n Samantha Pichler, 37, portrayed Nick, the bartender. She has an MA in theatre. \u201cNick is originally written as a man in the original play,\u201d she said, explaining that the gender change changed the dynamic of Rick. \u201cIn the original script, by not getting involved with the people in the bar could make him pass as a coward. On the contrary, Nick being a woman, like Ines Braun, the director, chose to cast it, makes the character appear more like a mom to all, who wants to protect them from danger outside.\u201d<\/p>\n Samantha Pichler, 37, portrayed Nick.<\/p><\/div>\n Pichler said audiences reactions can be hard to examine from the stage. \u201cPersonally it\u2019s always hard to tell from the inside,\u201d Pichler said in an email interview. \u201cIt is never the same performance or the same audience each night. However, talking to some friends after the show, they all remembered the scene where I violently grab the baseball bat out to scare Blick, played by Jacob Scherer.\u201d<\/p>\n Rehearsals began after the cast was selected in late August to early September. Many rehearsals consisted of improvisation activities as well as ensemble work. Pichler said, \u201cOur chairman, Gregory Mosher, said something to me in rehearsals that will always stick.\u201d Pichler had trouble with a particular line in the script. During a break, Mosher asked her what the play was about, and why it was important. He gave her advice on how to deliver her lines and focus more on her character. \u201cI never said my lines the same way after that,\u201d said the Manhattan resident.<\/p>\n Olivia Mittman, 20, who saw the play, was required to attend Time of Your Life because she was taking the course Theater 161 or Acting I, which is an acting\/improv class. \u201cWe were required to see the play and reflect on it. I also knew one of the actors in the show and was interested in seeing him in action,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mittman, an English major who lives in Manhattan said that the show was wonderful, the acting was very good yet she thought the show could have been condensed. \u201cThe plot was not always engaging and at times a bit confusing. Perhaps if I had read the play beforehand, and had more contexts I would have understood more,\u201d she said. \u201c The actors made a slow-moving, lengthily plot come to life. They are incredibly talented.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>