After a 25-year legacy, English professor David Radavich gives his last performance at the Charleston Alley Theatre before he retires at semester’s end.

Radavich bids adieu with his play entitled “Human Rock,” which discusses the issue of healing and redemption.

“Human Rock” opened Friday night at the CAT, 718 Monroe Ave. Performances continue at 7:30 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday and Oct. 19, and 2 p.m. Sunday.

“Human Rock” is the final installment of a seven-play series titled “On The Verge,” which dealt with several contemporary issues like environmentalism, war and crime.

The play itself is set in a seaside cave. Several refugees from modern life take residence within the cave and try to live without any amenities.

“It has a futuristic feel, back to basics,” Radavich said.

Radavich said his play focuses on several dissident characters that have fallen out of society and into this new world on the sea.

“I’ve written a sequence of seven plays on contemporary social issues, and what’s going on in our society and all the different kinds of things,” Radavich said. “And the final one I had in my image, an old man dropping out of society and living by the sea with more people arriving, and what would this new society be like that’s not based on electricity, computers, and the DVDs and all the sort of things we have. It’s kind of like getting back to basic human life.”

The actors

Radavich’s characters include an old man who lives in a cave, and other refugees like a woman who was nearly raped by her new husband and a young man pursued by cops. He said all the characters are wounded in various ways, but being wounded helps them become a family.

Comprising the characters is a cast of Eastern and Lake Land College students, Eastern alumni and local performers.

Arielle Johanpeter, a freshman art major at Lake Land, said she had to prepare extensively for this performance.

“Lots of rehearsals,” Johanpeter said. “We spent upwards of three hours on most weeknights here just reading over the script and memorizing lines.”

Despite prior acting experience, she said she still fears forgetting her lines.

“The more you do it, the easier it becomes,” Johanpeter said. “The more shows you do, the less you’re likely to forget your lines, forget your costume, crazy things like that.”

Lisa Dulaney, an Eastern English major, has the similar fears with lines, costumes and sets as Johanpeter.

“There’s forgetting the lines, stepping on someone else’s lines and, with my costume, I thought my scarf would get caught on something,” she said. “With the rocks, I was terrified that I was going to trip because I went without my glasses.”

Dulaney plays one of the spirits in “Human Rock,” which required extensive preparation.

“We did a lot of talking in unison,” Dulaney said. “I recruited my roommate to learn my part because it was hard to memorize on my own without a lot of repetition.”

Retirement

Radavich himself was once in these actors’ shoes.

He has had a long career with CAT, acting in plays like Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and most recently as George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Three of his seven “On The Verge” plays have been produced at CAT as well.

But his involvement with CAT will soon see its end.

Radavich plans to retire at the end of the semester to go back to his home in Charlotte, N. C., where he will finish writing a play dealing with the Palestine/Israel wall. He said he needs time to finish it. He plans to continue writing and is involved with literary organizations in North Carolina.

Tickets to the performance are $10. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact 345-2287.

Jose Gonzalez can be reached at 581-7942 or jlgonzalez@eiu.edu.

David Radavich, author of the current production “Human Rock” playing at the Charleston Alley Theatre, stands in the theater’s lobby to greet guests before Saturday night’s performance.(Chelsea Grady/The Daily Eastern News)

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