College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

• Home run

  ISU Theatre's Shirley Basfield Dunlap takes on baseball play.
  

  
  
• Baseball isn't Shirley Basfield Dunlap's strong suit.
  
  In fact, she'll readily admit that before she started research for her latest directorial assignment, she didn't know the difference between a touchdown and a home run, an inning from a half.
  
  Which is kind of important since Dunlap is directing "Fences," August Wilson's Pulitzer Prizing winning play about the Negro Baseball League in the 1950s. The associate professor of theatre and director of Iowa State's World Theatre Workshop is directing the play at the Madison Repertory Theatre.
  
  "I'm very nervous directing this play," Dunlap said. "Since the play has a lot to do with baseball I have had to learn a lot about the sport to find out why Troy (the lead character) didn’t go on to play in the major leagues.
  
  "As a result, I have learned a great deal about Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson and their struggles."
  
  But her lack of baseball knowledge isn't the only reason that Dunlap is nervous going into the production.
  
  This is the first August Wilson play she has directed and the first Wilson production that the Madison Repertory Theatre has performed.
  
  Add to that the fact that Dunlap met the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner when she was at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., and this play holds a little more special meaning to her.
  
  "His daughter went to school at Morgan State," she said, "and I got to know him. I want to do his play right."
  
  Two actors that appeared in "Fences" on Broadway will also be in the cast in Madison including the lead, Roscoe Orman. Orman is better known as "Gordon" on "Sesame Street."
  
  Dunlap will be in Madison for four weeks this spring for rehearsals before the play opens March 8.
  
  "Fences" is more than just about baseball for Dunlap.
  
  "The play takes place when I was four years old," she said. "When I look at the leading character, it's like I'm looking at my father. That was really helpful in defining the character."
  
  Directing a professional production outside of Ames is nothing new for Dunlap. Every couple of years she goes on the road. Her work has been seen previously at the Madison Repertory Theatre, The Human Race Theater Company, Hippodrome State Theatre, and the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
  
  The last time was a production of "The Old Settler" with the Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo, N.Y.
  
  "It's healthy for me as a director to go outside campus to direct," she said. "It keeps me fresh and active."
  
  Dunlap says it's also beneficial for Iowa State theatre students.
  
  "I try to bring to the students what I learn in the professional world," she said, "and hopefully that will better prepare them to succeed after college."
  

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February 25 to March 10, 2002

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