If the opening production of the ISU Theatre season at Iowa State University sounds familiar, you could be thinking of the movie "The Big Chill."
Like that movie, "Fifth of July" revolves around college friends from the '60s reuniting for a weekend long after their hippie and anti-war movement days in a small, rural town.
"There are a lot of similarities between ‘Fifth of July' and ‘The Big Chill,' says ISU Theatre's Brad Dell, the play's director. "The characters are affected in various ways by Vietnam and conflict ensues when they are thrust together years later."
The Lanford Wilson play is set in rural Missouri in 1977 and looks at the Tally family and their friends, and a general disillusionment with America in the wake of the Vietnam War. A gay, paraplegic Vietnam veteran is living in his childhood home with his boyfriend botanist. On the holiday weekend, he is visited by his sister and a group of friends who spent their college years together as activists as they try to reconcile real life with their dreams.
But Dell says that "Fifth of July" is not really about the past, nor even the characters' present.
"This is a play about the future," he says, "and what happens the next day as we take the next step forward in our lives. It's about everyday, not just holidays and how ‘Fifth of July' is not a special day but just another day in their lives.
"Family and friendship play a large role in this play and how we rely on each other. It's a beautifully uplifting play."
There are only eight characters in Tony Award winning Best Play for 1981.
"They're quirky and weird," Dell says, "and by bringing them all together we see a lot of realistic silly situations in addition to the emotional, heart-warming parts of the script."
Some of the "crazy bunch of characters" include a burned-out hippie songwriter, an ex-wannabe hippie heiress, the anti-war feminist mother, and her 14-year-old daughter who dresses in her dead grandmother's clothes. All in addition to the lead character of Ken Tally, the gay, paraplegic Vietnam vet who is having a life crisis.
"Many of the characters have gone off to lead ‘normal' lives," Dell says. "Over the course of this weekend they start to look back to the '60s and wonder what was the point."
The lead character of Ken Tally is played by Don Watts. Other actors and their roles include Jeff Mason, Jed; Margaux Mireault, June; Chris King, John; Meghan Sigwarth, Gwen; Katelyn Thompson, Shirley; Mat Wymore, Weston; and Kelly Teitsworth, Sally.
"Fifth of July" will be presented Oct. 3-5 and 10-12 in Fisher Theater. Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and $7 for students and children and are available at the Iowa State Center Ticket office at 515-294-2479 and through TicketMaster.
Cast of "Fifth of July"
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