Life struggles

College students often spend years in school finding themselves, but most have no bulbous facial growths or crooked backs to make the process more

complicated.

John Merrick did.

The cast of the University of North Alabama explores Merrick's struggle to make a successful life in society in the play "The Elephant Man."

Based on the true story of a deformed man living in Victorian London, Merrick's tale parallels to the journey of a college student, said director David Ruebhausen.

The theme of discovering "who we really are and what it means to be human and looking beyond the surface certainly applies to any college student," he said. "They're beginning to discover themselves on their own."

He cites a well-known local girl made good as another person who struggled and came out on the other side.

"We have the wonderful example of Helen Keller and how she overcame, and this is really an example of a heart-lifting story about someone who overcame a lot of issues socially," Ruebhausen said.

If the play reflects Merrick's story, struggle he did. Much of the set, designed by students, depicts a sideshow atmosphere with colorful signs reading "human oddities" and "hall of freaks."

In one scene, Merrick stands humiliated wearing only a loincloth as an announcer, played by Michael Baldwin, beckons a crowd in his cockney accent.

Ruebhausen chose "The Elephant Man" because he finally had a cast he felt was up for the physical, vocal and design demands of the Victorian age. For his 13 years at UNA, he wanted to do the play.

"As I'm thinking about shows, I have to think about the training component," he said. "I think this is a group that was ready for this particular training."

So ready that there are two sets of actors sharing the roles of Merrick and Mrs. Kendal, an actress. Andrew Maxwell and Forrest Harlan alternate Merrick while Liza Montgomery and Kette Jex take turns as Mrs. Kendal.

For Montgomery, training meant taking a little inspiration from her real life as a college actress.

"It's interesting because I have to overact things sometimes, but then again I also have to be really natural others," Montgomery said.

Their role requires Maxwell and Harlan to contort their bodies to look deformed because the play relies on physicality not makeup or prosthetics.

"Preparing for that there is an actually a warning with the script that says if you have back problems do not play the role of John Merrick," Ruebhausen said.

Maxwell said physicality is just another check on his on stage mental checklist along with remembering his lines, vocal pattern and accent.

During rehearsal he sweeps his lithe body into odd angles fairly easy, but the half nudity in the loincloth scene took some practice.

"It's my first time to be half-naked on the stage before," Maxwell said, with a laugh. "It's a new experience, but it's theater so you get used to it."

As Merrick tries to integrate into society Dr. Treves, who studies and befriends Merrick, struggles to define what it means to be human.

"(Treves) feels as if he's losing touch with humanity," Ruebhausen said.

That leads to acceptance, a topic that often crops up in collegiate life.

"It's really not a show about freaks or being abnormal," Montgomery said. "It's a show about acceptance of others, and I think that's a message that we can really portray to a college audience."

Jennifer Crossley can be reached at 740-5743 or jennifer.crossley@timesdaily.com.