BYU Newsnet
'Roof Sliding' Opens at Pardoe Theatre
By Nathan Casper - 20 Mar 2008

"Roofsliding," a new, original play written by a BYU graduate student, opens tonight in the Pardoe Theatre, HFAC, and will run Tuesday through Saturday for the next two weeks.

This marks the third work BYU has produced by writer Morag Plaice Shepherd. This is her first main-stage production.

Shepherd brought the show to Rodger Sorensen, chair of the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, nearly a year ago and under his supervision, she has reworked the show some four or five times.

"Working with her has been a delight," Sorensen said. "She is a wonderful colleague and her capacity to experiment and explore with her material is great."

Shepherd's approach to writing is unique. For this production, she didn't set out with a plan or a goal. It all started with a conversation between two of the characters that grew into a scene, and from there, the characters developed the show.

"I never start with an agenda," Shepherd said. "I start with the characters and it goes from there, but I try hard never to stick an agenda on them or define them by some stereotype."

The lack of stereotypically-defined characters makes for a real, true-to-life production. The characters, mostly young adults living in tenement housing in Scotland, are reminiscent of people who everyone know: the newlyweds, the nosy grandmother, the misunderstood adolescent.

This realistic style makes it difficult to confine the production to a particular genre; it is at times touching and poignant, sometimes hilariously funny, but always true to life.

"I don't think it knows its own genre," said Emily Burnworth, who is the production's dialogue coach and as such has spent months helping the actors to develop thick, but understandable, Scottish accents.

In addition to developing a remarkably difficult accent, the actors have struggled to define their characters. The fact that this is the first staging of "Roofsliding" provides them with unique opportunities for growth.

"You have a character that nobody has seen before, but more importantly, you haven't seen before so you don't have any outside influence on what this role should be," said Andrew Veenstra, an acting major from Pittsford, N.Y.

"Roofsliding" runs Tuesday through Saturday nights at 7:30 from now until April 4, 2008, with a matinee on March 29, at 2 p.m. To purchase tickets, go to the Fine Arts Ticket Office, performance.byu.edu or call (801) 422-4322.