Frankenstein showcases wide array of talents

  Wednesday, October 26, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

Special Effects Make-Up Artist Brandi Graber says she loved watching scary movies when she was little, so it’s a two-hour labor of love when she transforms Stephen Reida from a friendly Pittsburg State University junior into the iconic creature from Mary Shelley’s novel, “Frankenstein.”

PSU Theatre’s production of the Victor Gialanella play, based on the horror classic, ran Oct. 27-30 in the Dotty and Bill Miller Theater in the Bicknell Family Center for the Arts at PSU.

Graber said she was drawn to theater as a youngster and eventually went to Hollywood, where she studied at the Joe Blasco Make-Up School.

“I started working in movies after that,” Blasco said.

It’s likely that the audiences that attend PSU’s production this week have already seen Graber’s work in films such as “Austin Powers,” “George of the Jungle” and “Jurasic Park 2” and on television in “The X Files” and “Seinfeld.”

“Frankenstein” director Gil Cooper said Graber’s outstanding make-up work is just one of the many elements that have come together to make this production special.

Those elements include fight training by a veteran choreographer whose husband is an MMA fighter, complex set changes by scenic designer Linden Little and period costumes by costume designer Lisa Quinteros.

Cooper said he’s particularly pleased by the way the student actors embraced their roles.

Reida, from Wichita, said he was excited to play the creature.

“My mom raised me on black-and-white scary movies,” Reida said. “It’s a lot of fun (to play this character.) I haven’t gotten to do something like this on stage before.”

Reida said he was eager to see his mother’s response to his character.

“My mom doesn’t even know what I look like bald, yet,” Reida said. “She is in for a surprise.”

Cooper said in addition to the actors who portrayed the 12 characters in the play, many more students worked long hours behind the scenes to make the production run smoothly.

“All together, there were about 50 students involved in some facet of the production,” Cooper said.