{"id":7075,"date":"2018-02-08T20:47:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T04:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=7075"},"modified":"2018-02-08T20:47:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T04:47:13","slug":"people-behind-people-changed-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/people-behind-people-changed-world\/","title":{"rendered":"The people behind the people that changed the world"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Dunaway | News Editor <\/span><\/p>\n

Clever, complex and filled to the brim with emotion: prepare for a journey through time in Western\u2019s newest production, \u201cThe (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The play, written by playwright Madeleine George, centers around four different characters named Watson: the supercomputer that became a \u201cJeopardy!\u201d champion, Sherlock Holmes\u2019s faithful sidekick, Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s assistant who helped build the first telephone and a modern-day computer repairman on the search for companionship.<\/span><\/p>\n

Senior and Bachelor of Fine Arts student Stephen Nielson portrays all four Watsons throughout the show. When asked what his favorite thing about this show is, Nielson commented, \u201cThis show is really cool to me because it\u2019s this story about wanting to be helpful \u2026 It\u2019s very fun to be able to use me as a starting point for a character like Watson, who is so weird and varied.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Modern-day Josh Watson is hired by a local politician Frank Merrick, played by sophomore Bill Evans, to spy on Merrick\u2019s ex-wife Eliza, portrayed by sophomore Selena Moreno. The stalking quickly turns into an emotional love affair between Eliza and Watson. <\/span><\/p>\n

The play consistently jumps from 2011 modern America to 1889 Victorian England where another Eliza meets Sherlock Holmes\u2019s trusty sidekick, John Watson. A third timeline in 1931 involves a radio interview between a third Eliza and Alexander Graham Bell\u2019s assistant, Thomas Watson, on the invention of the telephone. The complex storyline ties three centuries together and makes the audience consider the underlying characteristics that make us all human.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis show is about the people behind the people who change the world,\u201d Director and senior Western student Matthew Miller explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

Working toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in technical theatre, Miller is passionate about directing. \u201cDirecting is a weird art. It\u2019s different from painting where you just do the thing by itself and people see it. With this, you are taking other peoples art and making sure it all fits together in the best possible way. It\u2019s kind of like a giant puzzle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Miller described his favorite thing about this show: the hidden heros. \u201cWe look at Thomas Watson, who assisted Alexander Graham Bell in the invention of the telephone. And John Watson who is Sherlock Holmes\u2019s fictional assistant. Everyone knows who Graham Bell is, not everyone knows how important Watson was to that. As someone who usually works behind the scenes and doesn\u2019t get seen the same way actors do, this show speaks to me on that level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence\u201d will be performed at Rice Auditorium on Feb. 8, 9, and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 10. An interpreted performance is on Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The show runs about two and a half hours long and is $8 for students, $14 for general admission and $10 for seniors, faculty and staff.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the author at journalnews@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo by: Paul F. Davis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Dunaway | News Editor Clever, complex and filled to the brim with emotion: prepare for a journey through time in Western\u2019s newest production, \u201cThe (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence.\u201d The play, written by playwright Madeleine George, centers around four different characters named Watson: the supercomputer that became a \u201cJeopardy!\u201d champion, Sherlock Holmes\u2019s faithful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1030,"featured_media":7055,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1030"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}