3/07/08
Sophomore Olivia Hernandez was perfectly content with her role behind the scenes of the theater department’s latest production, “J.B.”
After helping with makeup and costumes during the play Feb. 28, Hernandez found herself thrust into the limelight in performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday after a last-minute actress change.
Director Tom Heiman announced before each performance that Hernandez would be playing Rebecca, a role previously played by senior Hali Jewell.
“It was just a decision that a director had to make,” Heiman said.
Hernandez said she found out she’d be playing the role after dinner Friday.
“The first night just felt like a dream – it was so surreal,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it just happened. I really felt the impact of the audience on Friday. It felt like it really meant something when I took my bow.”
While Hernandez has acted at Baker before, she was nervous about memorizing the few lines that Rebecca spoke.
“It was one of the scariest experiences,” she said. “I got a lot of thank yous from the cast, but I just thought I was doing my job.”
A modernized version of the biblical story of Job, junior Kyle Dyck played J.B., while sophomore Denver Little played the role of Nickles, who portrays Satan throughout the play.
“I thought it was one of the best things I’ve ever directed,” Heiman said. “I thought Kyle did quite a good job, and he grew quite a bit as an actor. He’d never done anything like this before. Denver also did a good job. The play is the story of Job, but Nickles is the part that everyone wants.”
Heiman said attendance for the performances was a little higher than usual, which he thought might have been because of the play’s subject.
“I know several people in the play, and I wanted to support the cast, but I was also interested in the play itself and wanted to see how it played out in a theatrical way,” junior Sarah Jones, who attended Sunday’s performance, said.
Plagued with death and misfortune, it was Job’s perseverance that struck Jones.
“The part that I remember the most is after Job kept getting everything taken away from him, he was angry and confused, but he never cursed God,” she said. “He always had hope for something. I thought they did an amazing job. The acting was fabulous, and they did a good job of conveying emotion in the script.”
Hernandez said she enjoyed acting with Little.
“Denver really wanted that role during auditions,” she said. “He was very convincing. Just to be able to act with him on stage was a big deal to me. It was such an honor.”
The theater department’s final production will be senior projects from Jewell, Katie Bettis and Susan Surman.