Standing in front of the pine wood stage, West Fargo Theater Director Adam Pankow is filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride for how far the theater department has come over the years. Pankow knew that he wanted to take the department to the next level, but was waiting for the right group of students to take on a larger project and this year he found his group.
“I think there’s a time and place for every production. You look at every show and what it is and the level you have to come up to and sometimes you pass on them,” Pankow said. “I don’t think that we could have done this [Marathon 33] three years ago. Mentally and physically we weren’t ready for it.”
According to Pankow, he knows the process cannot just happen and that you have to build on the skills you have for a successful play.
“In the classroom you build upon one set of skills to get to the next level and the same is true on our stage as well,” Pankow said. “The fact that we had intricate dancing in the show is an indicator of the past three years of training. Those students were confident and strong dancers so we were able to do this.”
The play, Marathon 33, is a true story about a phenomenon from the 1930’s, dance marathons. These marathons would consist of people throwing pennies at the dancers for their own entertainment. The audience would enjoy watching others suffer physically and mentally and because the dances were deemed too dehumanizing, were finally shut down in the ‘40’s.
“Some people might take offense to it. Some people might not like to see that sliver of society, that sliver of time, presented on our stage,” Pankow said. “Not every play is for everybody.”
The students tested their physical and mental limitations by bringing this unique play to the stage. With countless practices where they were constantly on their feet trying to get the “Cotton Club Stomp” down to the last beat so as to helped bring the department to the next level, they also saw themselves change.
“I feel like I’ve really grown as an actor. It was a lot of fun to see everyone put everything they have into one thing,” sophomore Lexi Schmitz said. “It kind of changes you for the better, while working on a show it gives you a little more hope. Seeing all these different people dealing with different situation all coming together to create a fabulous piece of art [is extraordinary].”
Schmitz, who played Mama Rose, feels that this play truly shows how desperate and willing people were to make a profit during the 1940’s.
“It taught me to have a great deal of respect for those who went through dance marathons just to make a profit,” junior Morgan Senger said. “This play also taught me a lot as an actress by having to adapt to certain characteristics that I have never experienced before.”
With the ups and downs that the play presented to the department, Pankow could not be happier with where the department is heading.
“It is a regimented process to look for perfection and you need for one, a person with the skill set to teach that and demand that sort of excellence, but, two, you need students who also buy into that same vision. It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of sweat and sometimes tears that go into it.”