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Page 65--The Daily Iowan--Iowa City, Iowa--Tuesday, Marc 1, 1988
Arts/entertainment

UI Theatres' 'Miss Margarida' shocks with an explicit show

By Kevin Goulding
The Daily Iowan

Miss Margarida's Way, which opens Wednesday night at University Theatres "contains material which may offend some audience members" according to promotional material.
A critic from The Boston Herald America wrote: "Many showgoers of Boston will be shocked and dismayed by Miss Margarida's Way which is not the way of sweetness and light, or of decency."
   The Boston Globe reported that "night after night during the first off-Broadway run at the Public Theater she was hissed, jeered, humiliated, even stink-bombed and nearly mobbed by normally restrained theatergoers who found themselves inexplicably frenzied and grappling for release, any kind of release..."
   The controversial comedy, by Brazilian Roberty Athayde (see side bar), has been performed in 55 countries and has been banned and censored in several of them. Some Iowa City theatregoers will remember its stop at Hancher Auditorium in 1979 with Estell Parsons.

   MISS MARGARIDA'S  Way is a satire on power and madness, not to mention sex and religion (how come these two always go together?), as portrayed in an eighth-grade teacher's lecture on biology. Paranoid and out-of-control, she wields her power, according to The New York Times, "like God wit a nervous break-down."
   Suited to Miss Margarida's schizophrenic nature, director Kate Burke has divided the lead among two actresses, Karen Jorgensen and Alejandra Leon de la Barra.
Working with split leads on such a demanding play has proven both rewarding and challenging for Burke. "At times I've felt like the schizophrenic nurturing mother of fraternal twins. Early on, when we were having rehearsals with both of them, I would have this surreal, schizophrenic, nightmarish deja-vu period of ten minutes at the beginning of the second rehearsal when I couldn't get my bearings. I'd be thinking, 'Didn't I just hear this?' "

   MISS MARGARIDA, with more dizzying mood swings than a UI presidential search, is one of the more challenging roles, particularly for the young actress. AT one point in the play she looks out at her class (the audience) and queries "Is there anybody named Messiah in this classroom? No? What about Jesus? No Jesus either? And Holy Ghost? Any Holy Ghosts in class? None, right? Fuck you, then! You can go to hell. Oh yes, the Principal told me what a nice class you are..."
   Jorgensen remarks, "you can't let yourself relax at any time. You have to surge on. If you drop the energy the whole show drops. You are the energy. Either you grow and develop with this or you die."
   Both actresses remark on how the role has affected them. With de la Barra, it became a matter of leaving Miss Margarida in rehearsal. "I began to feel like she was by my side all the time. It's really crazy. She becomes a part of you."
   Miss Margarida's Way will be performed at 8 p.m. March 2 - 5 and 9 - 12, and at 3 p.m. March 6 and 13 in Theatre A.

[photo]

Karen Jorgenson (left) and Alejandra Leon de la Barra share the role of the tyrranical biology teacher in the UI Theatres production of  Miss Magarida's Way, March 2-13 in Theatre A of the UI Theatre Building.

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Page 65--The Daily Iowan--Iowa City, Iowa--Tuesday, Marc 1, 1988 Arts/entertainment UI Theatres' 'Miss Margarida' shocks with an explicit show By Kevin Goulding The Daily Iowan Miss Margarida's Way, which opens Wednesday night at University Theatres "contains material which may offend some audience members" according to promotional material. A critic from The Boston Herald America wrote: "Many showgoers of Boston will be shocked and dismayed by Miss Margarida's Way which is not the way of sweetness and light, or of decency." The Boston Globe reported that "night after night during the first off-Broadway run at the Public Theater she was hissed, jeered, humiliated, even stink-bombed and nearly mobbed by normally restrained theatergoers who found themselves inexplicably frenzied and grappling for release, any kind of release..." The controversial comedy, by Brazilian Roberty Athayde (see side bar), has been performed in 55 countries and has been banned and censored in several of them. Some Iowa City theatregoers will remember its stop at Hancher Auditorium in 1979 with Estell Parsons. MISS MARGARIDA'S Way is a satire on power and madness, not to mention sex and religion (how come these two always go together?), as portrayed in an eighth-grade teacher's lecture on biology. Paranoid and out-of-control, she wields her power, according to The New York Times, "like God wit a nervous break-down." Suited to Miss Margarida's schizophrenic nature, director Kate Burke has divided the lead among two actresses, Karen Jorgensen and Alejandra Leon de la Barra. Working with split leads on such a demanding play has proven both rewarding and challenging for Burke. "At times I've felt like the schizophrenic nurturing mother of fraternal twins. Early on, when we were having rehearsals with both of them, I would have this surreal, schizophrenic, nightmarish deja-vu period of ten minutes at the beginning of the second rehearsal when I couldn't get my bearings. I'd be thinking, 'Didn't I just hear this?' " MISS MARGARIDA, with more dizzying mood swings than a UI presidential search, is one of the more challenging roles, particularly for the young actress. AT one point in the play she looks out at her class (the audience) and queries "Is there anybody named Messiah in this classroom? No? What about Jesus? No Jesus either? And Holy Ghost? Any Holy Ghosts in class? None, right? Fuck you, then! You can go to hell. Oh yes, the Principal told me what a nice class you are..." Jorgensen remarks, "you can't let yourself relax at any time. You have to surge on. If you drop the energy the whole show drops. You are the energy. Either you grow and develop with this or you die." Both actresses remark on how the role has affected them. With de la Barra, it became a matter of leaving Miss Margarida in rehearsal. "I began to feel like she was by my side all the time. It's really crazy. She becomes a part of you." Miss Margarida's Way will be performed at 8 p.m. March 2 - 5 and 9 - 12, and at 3 p.m. March 6 and 13 in Theatre A. [photo] Karen Jorgenson (left) and Alejandra Leon de la Barra share the role of the tyrranical biology teacher in the UI Theatres production of Miss Magarida's Way, March 2-13 in Theatre A of the UI Theatre Building.