TEXREP TO PRESENT ‘THE OUTSIDERS,’
Adapted from the acclaimed S.E. Hinton young adult novel, the stage rendition of “The Outsiders” comes alive soon on the Stilwell Theatre stage courtesy of Texarkana Repertory Co.
TexRep presents “The Outsiders” Nov. 3-5 and Nov. 10-12, with shows at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays at the Texarkana College theater.
The story, which was also adapted into a Francis Ford Coppola film, centers on rival teen gangs in the city of Tulsa, Okla.: the Greasers on one side, the Socials on another.
Characters like Ponyboy (Gabe Lohse), Johnny (Matthew Edwards), Bob (Rafael Veliz), Dallas (Taylor Coleman) and others are the memorable youth whose stormy lives are portrayed on stage by 16 talented local actors. TexRep’s artistic director, Michael Cooper, says his Texarkana College students love this book, which was published in 1967. Hinton wrote this coming-ofage novel when she was a teenager.
“It’s basically about two different groups. There’s the Greasers and the Socs, which is short for the Socials, the kids with money and cars and everything else,” Cooper said. “And they are in conflict with each other.” That conflict is more serious than cliques; people die, after all.
“There’s one character, Ponyboy, who lives with his brothers Sodapop and Darry. Their parents were killed last year,” Cooper said. They want to stay together. “Ponyboy’s the narrator because
it’s his story. So it’s about him and his friends.”
Similarly to “The Glass Menagerie” and Tom Wingfield, the play’s events are seen through Ponyboy’s perspective. The play flows from one scene right into the next. Cooper and set designer Chris Polson have, therefore, fashioned a set that’s realistic but in pieces.
“The idea is he’s writing a piece for an English class, because he’s doing really badly in school and he’s a really smart kid,” Cooper said about Ponyboy discussing events that happen. Ponyboy makes a connection with one of the Social girls, but her boyfriend, says Cooper, is the meanest Soc of all.
Cooper’s actors are, by and large, not too far removed from the age of these characters. They also all know the story.
“It’s just such a popular book with them,” he said.
This slot in the TexRep season is the educational one, so TexRep will do daytime matinees for area high schools and middle schools.
“One smaller high school is bringing the entire high school,” Cooper said. His actors are excited.
The time period? It’s 1964-ish, said the director. Expect to see guys in jeans and T-shirts, apart from the Socs who have slacks and cardigans.
What did the director enjoy about the book? He’d never heard of it until he decided to read it and do the play for TexRep.
“For me, I couldn’t help reading it and just being so impressed that someone of that age was able to write the material. They’re fully rounded characters that you care about,” Cooper said.
There’s also a reference in the play to the famous Robert Frost poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” One of the character shares it after an “accidental murder,” the director said. It’s about innocence and lost youth. Also, another realization in the play is that we’re all outsiders, in some respect.
“We’ve all felt that way, of not fitting in,” Cooper said.
As for Lohse, he’s playing the narrator, Ponyboy. It’s a big role for the young actor. And he knows there’s a lot of prep work to give this character a heartbeat, he said. There are the sides of Ponyboy he shows to the audience, then the side he shows to his friends, the Greasers.
“Ponyboy is already a part of this group of people who feel like they’re outsiders. It’s kind of ironic because even Ponyboy feels like he’s an outsider from the other group of outsiders. He’s a little bit different. They’re his family but there’s a different side of him. He feels like he creates this wall between him and most other people that he comes across,” Lohse said.
He read the book in school and also to prepare for being part of the stage play. He says the play is true to the book.
“Especially with this show, I feel like everyone is kind of playing a version of themselves,” the actor said, noting there’s a universal feeling at work here. “Everyone feels like an outsider.”
(Tickets: $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, $5 for Texarkana College students and faculty. Purchase tickets at TexRep.org.)