By Holly Lukasiewicz
They’re roaming, but you hope they won’t bite. Watching the hodge-podge of mammoths, dinosaurs and cross-dressing family members, you best check yourself.
When it comes to UNO’s production of Thornton Wilder’s *The Skin of Our Teeth, there’s nothing quite typical about it.
*The Skin of our Teeth, winner of the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for drama, traces the Antrobus family’s evolution from the ice age to a visit with Noah and his ark, through wars, up to modern existence. Combining satire and absurdism, the play represents humankind’s continuous plight for sustaining life and its ability to survive by “the skin of their teeth.” Characters such as Socrates and Queen Elizabeth make appearances.
Another added twist to the play is that each actor plays another’s character ast some point in the play. This is where the cross-dressing action comes into play.
Cross-gendering is an important dramatic quality to the play.
UNO student Melanie Gillis, who plays three separate characters, says it creates a more intense emotional impact on the audience. Seeing a male demean a woman may not be as powerful a statement than if it were a woman dressed as a man demeaning another woman.
With a “whirlwind of things” happening, *The Skin of our Teeth promises to deliver the goods.
Show times are 8 p.m., April 18-20 and 24-27, in UNO’s Fine Arts building. Call 554-2335 for more information.
“Come with an open mind,” Gillis says. “Don’t expect to see something you’d see in a movie theater.”
