Ripon College Days

Media Credit: Photo by Genivee Tucker-Balthazor It's a wonderful life. The ensemble brings to life one actor's childhood memory of family life and the holiday season. This scene, like all the scenes and songs from the play, was inspired by actual occurrences in the lives of the ensemble. [Click to enlarge]

The goal of this year's fall play, "And People will Say" was, according the show's director and Professor of Theatre Bob Amsden, to show "personal passions, struggles, absurdities, bad breaks and triumphs that make up young people's lives at the dawn of the 21st Century."

Cast members used their own personal experiences to develop a script in hopes of portraying real life drama in an interesting and unique way. "Everybody is unique, and that makes everybody's stories unique," says senior Jen Millen, who enjoyed watching the play.

Some feel this goal was reached, and that the audience was able to relate to the stories and accounts of growing up.

In addition to unique story lines, the music was one-of-a-kind as well. Singer and songwriter Ken Lonquist of Madison, Wis., wrote original songs to supplement the play's stories.

Lonquist has written musicals for other school plays in the past, and though he mainly focuses on elementary music education and entertainment, Amsden was hopeful he would do well with "And People will Say" as well.

"I thought the music was alright," says junior Allison Finseth. "Starting with a song didn't really get me into the mood of a play, and some of the songs seemed a little clichŽ."

However, Finseth says that she thinks the audience was receptive, and most people enjoyed watching the play and getting into the lives of the actors.

"The actors did a really good job with what they had," she says.

Renae Beier contributed to this report.

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