No need to be impatient for ‘Waiting for Godot’

by Word Staff

Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., Goddard auditorium will change from the familiar stage that hosts convocations and panels into a platform for a play that has been adapted from a classic to reflect modern times. “Waiting for Godot,” by Samuel Beckett, will be performed by the Classical Theater of Harlem.

“Waiting for Godot” is considered a modern classic, written during the late 1940s. The play is literally about two men “Waiting for Godot,” though it’s the aformentioned “existential comedy” of it that makes the play noticeable.

The performance is by the Classical Theater of Harlem (CTH). Called  “a company to follow and relish,” by the New York Times, the CTH has been an official entity since 1999. 

Based out of Harlem, N.Y., the company’s website claims the aim of the CTH is to “maintain a professional theater company dedicated to presenting the ‘classics’ in Harlem,” amongst other things.

For a classic, this play has changed a fair amount in the hands of the CTH. They have set the performance in post-Katrina New Orleans, instead of the original set of “…country road. A tree.”

Why is the play coming to Earlham? As McElroen puts it “Our goal in remounting Waiting for Godot in 2009 is to simply continue to tell the story, through Mr. Beckett’s play,  of those in the Gulf Coast who are still waiting.”

The play’s director, Christopher McElroen, considers this a positive change to the play. He said that “the production gave a powerful immediacy to a classic that has often been perceived as remote.” Even further, he feels the performance “fully [realized] the agony of waiting as well as the irrepressibility of humanity, imagination and humor that is inherently faithful to Mr. Beckett’s play.”

According to McElroen, the project was a success upon its first performance. The CTH performed in post-Katrina New Orleans, and drew “thousands of local residents.” The performance also garnered “positive responses from local residents and critics alike.”

CTH not only put on shows in New Orleans, but also became involved in the community, hosting meals, workshops and humanities events. These activities raised funds to aid the rebuilding of New Orleans, and created “a true community-development-through-the-arts-project,” according to McElroen.

Tickets for the show on Saturday night, in Goddard, are $5 for adults and $3 for students and seniors.