Return engagement
By Joey Berlin
Originally published 02:11 p.m., February 29, 2008
Updated 02:11 p.m., February 29, 2008
Director Ron Fredrickson speaks with the cast of “Nickel and Dimed” before the start of a rehearsal Thursday night at Roosevelt Hall.
Ron Frederickson came to Emporia State’s theater department in 1972 with the intention of staying for only a few years. Instead, Frederickson stayed at ESU until 1998, when he retired and moved back to his native Salt Lake City.
Frederickson has made the occasional trip back to Emporia since then, and now, he’s getting the chance to direct ESU’s theater department in the theater that bears his name. “Nickel and Dimed,” a play by Joan Holden, will run March 5-9 in the Frederickson Theatre in Roosevelt Hall.
On Wednesday, the Flint Hills Alumni Chapter at Emporia State will hold a special dinner for Frederickson at 5:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union, which will be followed by the opening performance of “Nickel and Dimed.”
The Gazette sat down with Frederickson earlier this week to ask him about the play and returning to Emporia.
Q What have you been doing since you left Emporia State?
A After I was back in Salt Lake a couple of years, I got picked up by the University of Utah theater department as an adjunct faculty member. So I’ve been teaching one acting class and one voice and diction class back at the University of Utah, and I also have been directing since 2004 at least one play a year for them. ... So I’m managing not to be very retired. And I really was pleased when Jim Bartruff called me and invited me to come back and direct “Nickel and Dimed” here.
I have also, since I’ve been gone, directed in other places. In 2002, I was invited back to direct “Moon Over Buffalo” for Wichita State University. I have also done some acting.
Q So when Jim Bartruff called and invited you to come back and direct this, was it out of the blue?
A Since (my trips back to Emporia) in 2002 and 2005, they had been talking about inviting me back to direct a play in that theater. ... And one of the reasons they invited me to direct “Nickel and Dimed” is that it’s based on a prose source, and not only that, it’s based on a prose nonfiction source. ... They wanted a play that had lots of women in it; this (cast) has five women and one man. Since when I was ... at Emporia State, I taught a class where I had students adapt plays from short stories and excerpts from novels maintained in narrative voice. ... And so they felt this particular play was kind of suited to some of the things that I had taught.
Q For those who aren’t familiar with it, what’s the synopsis of “Nickel and Dimed”?
A “Nickel and Dimed” is a book that Barbara Ehrenreich wrote. She’s a journalist who decided to go undercover as a minimum-wage worker and then write a book about how she was able to make it on that kind of money.
She decided she wasn’t going to access her own financial resources. She was going to just bite the bullet and try and make it on what she earned, first as a waitress, second as a member of a housecleaning team, and then as an employee of Wal-Mart. And in the play, it’s called “Mall-Mart.” So she did about a month at each effort.
The book is subtitled “On (Not) Getting by in America.” It’s a real indictment of the way we treat minimum-wage employees. It really is a fascinating story about how the richest country in the world doesn’t do nearly as well as many other countries when it comes to helping their workers with benefits and the level of pay that they receive and what have you.
Q What memories has it brought back for you, being back in Emporia and directing again?
A I stayed here for so long that every time I come back in this town, I get a lump in my throat. I really learned to love this town. I always drive past the two houses I lived (in) while I was here. Both of the houses were on Neosho Street between 12th and 15th. ...
A lot of Emporia has changed, but there’s a great deal of it that hasn’t. Many of my colleagues are still here.
Q What’s it like directing in a theater that has your name on it?
A (Laughs) I’m still trying to get used to that. But I’m certainly very honored to be able to do that, and I think it’s just a very special experience. I’m grateful to my colleagues and to Steve Sauder for his generosity and for making that phone call in which he asked me if that would be OK with me. I said of course it would.
Q How would you describe the tone of the play? Of course, it’s based on Barbara’s real experience, but is it satirical, is it sad, is it funny, is it kind of bleak?
A It’s funny, it’s poignant, there are places where it’s sad. I can’t say that it’s tragic, but there are places where it’s ironic. It certainly has some political overtones, not that it has anything to do with the current political scene as it relates to the election or anything. But it certainly has implications for what our state and local and federal government does and does not do when it comes to our work force. But it’s very cleverly written.
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