By
Graig Uhlin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Kitschy comic thriller "Psycho Beach Party" stars ASUA senator-elect, other UA students
Sarah Calvert is a woman of many personalities - student, ASUA senator-elect, daughter, actress.
And to that, she has recently added a few more - dominatrix, Safeway check-out girl, male model, radio talk show psychiatrist and the accounting firm of Edelman and Edelman.
That's because Calvert, a molecular and cellular biology and political science freshman, is starring as Chicklet Forrest, the schizophrenic, surfer-girl protagonist of Charles Busch's campy play, "Psycho Beach Party."
The production, now running at the Cabaret Theatre, 330. S. Scott Ave., combines elements of '50s psychological thrillers, the '60s beach party movies of Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and even a little drag in a comedy that Calvert described as a '60s' "American Pie."
"It was their funny sex comedy back in the day," Calvert said.
The production also features UA students Brian McGrath and Kendra Webb, both theater juniors; Will Harris, a junior majoring in history and Spanish; Christine Prochnau, a sociology junior; and Maria Di Leo, a pre-med junior.
Director Valerie Baugh, however, said the play was more than just a simple sex comedy.
"Even though it has a campy level, it has the underlying of true psychological drama," she said. "It works on so many levels for me. And they are woven so nicely together."
Despite its more serious underpinnings, on the surface, "Psycho Beach Party" has a kitschy, overly dramatic style.
"It's just a heightened reality," Baugh said. "I really wanted it (the acting style) presentational. Everything is big and energized and life-or-death. And that's the whole thing - if you do not get what you want, you die."
Baugh said the exaggerated style was influenced by her own background in musical theater, as well as soap operas.
"If you watch a soap opera, for someone who hasn't watched one very often, you laugh," she said. "But the more you watch soap operas, the more you actually get hooked into the drama."
This extreme acting style, Calvert said, contributed to the humor of the play.
"What makes each of our characters funny is that it seems overly dramatic and seems incredibly unrealistic, but it is realistic to our characters," she said.
Castmate Webb agreed.
"The characters honestly believe what they are talking about, and that is what makes it ridiculous," she said.
Calvert added that this presentational style made it sometimes difficult to know exactly how the actors should play their characters.
"It's not until you think you're just completely over the top, overacting like you wouldn't believe, that the director is like, 'That's where I want it,'" she said.
Moreover, Calvert had the additional challenge of differentiating between all of her character's many personalities.
"For each character, we picked a center of gravity, which would be the part of the body that they would move with, that they would focus on," she said. "So like for (dominatrix) Ann Bowman, that was the chest. For (check-out girl) Tylene, it was the hips."
Busch's inspiration for Chicklet, Baugh said, was Gidget, a beach bunny played by Sally Field in the '60s TV show of the same name. She said the original name for the play was even "Gidget Goes Psycho."
Calvert said the actors, in order to prepare for their roles, watched episodes of "Gidget" as well as many of the surf movies of the era.
"One night we all got together and watched surf movies. We watched 'How to Stuff a Wild Bikini,'" Calvert said. "And it was crazy watching 'Gidget' because there are a number of lines pulled directly from there. So we talked about what makes it (the play) funny is that we're using the exact same lines, but we're switching the context so it's obvious to the audience just how funny it was that this used to be a serious thing."
"We sat there and laughed because of how campy it was," Baugh added.
Although the play does make direct references to '60s-era TV shows and films, Baugh is not worried that the audience will be lost.
"That was a concern, but I think the play stands enough on its own that it's OK," she said.
Webb, citing her own experience, also considered it to be not a big concern.
"I don't know anything about 'Gidget' and I still think the whole thing is hilarious," she said. "Any person off the street is going to understand the ridiculousness of it."
Baugh said that the audience for this play cannot help but be engaged, and that it will appeal to anyone who attends.
"When the director is still laughing in final dress (rehearsal), it has to be fun," she said. "I don't see anyone not having fun."
"Psycho Beach Party," directed by Valerie Baugh, plays Thursday through Saturday, as well as April 5-7, at the Cabaret Theatre, 330 S. Scott Ave. Showtimes are at 8 p.m., with a matinee at 3 p.m. on April 1. Tickets are $6, $5 Sundays. For reservations, call 797-4792.
