0 BEHREND BEACON
October 23, 2009
Vwww.thebehrendbeacon.com
['MAU i1ti,14A4031
Behrend production Alice still stable
despite students' decisions to drop play
EVAN KOSER
ow, ~,h1,,,
With the performance of the
Behrend student play Alice:
Tales of ci Curious Girl only a
few weeks from opening night,
two students have unexpect
edly jumped ship on the pro
duction.
Alice is an unfamiliar take on
the familiar tale of Alice in
Wonderland. Sophomores
Kathryn Kotlarz and Earl Kun
sman have both dropped the
performance from their sched
ules due to time constraints.
"I was far behind in my
classes," said Kunsman, a hiol-
ogy major.
This semester, Kunsman is
enrolled with 17 credits and is
currently seeking membership
with a fraternity, certainly a
heavy workload on top of al
most 12 hours of theatre re
hearsal per week.
Aside from the hours, Kotlarz
was dealing with stress.
"I just couldn't deal with it,"
said Kotlarz, a nutrition major
currently enrolled with 15 cred
its. "I mean, with school and
personal issues, I just couldn't
give enough time to the play."
ell
ill Watch online: Behind the scenes footage of the
making of Alice: Tales of a Curious Girl, coming in Nov
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
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Many students base their de- ing himself with his passion.
cision to partake in extracurric- "Leaving the theatre was
ulars on their prospective heart-breaking for me," he said.
schedules; Kotlarz and Kun- "It's a passion of mine. I mean,
sman are no different. I know I had to in order to suc-
"When I auditioned, I be- ceed in my college career."
lieved that I could do [the play] Kotlarz' situation parallels
up until last Thursday," said Kunsman's in many aspects.
Kotlarz. Both students have performed
Kunsman held a similar view. in past Behrend shows, but Kot-
"In the beginning, I actually larz explains that balancing
figured it'd just be the same as school work and the plays is al
last semes- ways hard
ter," he said. "It's difficult choosing wo "lt's never
rk.
"But a lot of
the personal between something Kotlagone easy
id,"
reasons hit rz sa.
me so sud- you love to do and " But it's been
denly." manageable in
Kunsman something you have the past. Last
also fell be- semester, I did
hind in his n't bother try-
classes when
he had to
leave cam
pus for fam-
ily issues
"I was really sick for a while
too," he said, "and leaving for
home put me behind."
Kunsman explained that
while he loves being a part of
the thespian culture, it was an
imperative decision between
doing well in classes or involv-
to do."
ing out
KATHRYN KOTLARZ because I
knew I wasn't
sophomore nutrition major going to be
While Kotlarz didn't have to
tend to pressing issues at home,
she found it difficult transition
ing from a few hours to nearly
12 hours per week of rehearsal.
"It was easy in the beginning
because we only had rehearsals
once or twice a week for a cou
ple hours," she said. "But 1 had
to make a choice."
"I do feel bad for leaving
everyone else," Kotlarz said.
"Especially because it's some
thing that I love. But I knew I
made the right choice."
Because the production is
just a few weeks away, it's too
late to fill the roles with new
performers. Thus, current ac
tors are having to fill in the
roles.
Kotlarz and Kunsman both
expressed their disdain in their
decisions, referring to it as the
"lesser of two evils."
"I'm really hoping to do the
shows again next semester,"
said Kunsman. "I know I'll be
pledging, so I'm going to have
to manage my time better."
Kotlarz advises that all stu
dents keep from getting - too
stressed out."
"Make sure you can drop
something if you have to," she
said. "Don't take on too much
and always know your limits."
"It's difficult when you have
to choose between something
you love to do and something
you have to do," said Kotlarz.
able to handle
The performance of Alice:
Tales of a Curious Girl is still
scheduled to open on Nov. 12.
despite this minor setback.
Tickets for the performance
will be available to students
and the public in the coming
weeks.
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