{"id":2026,"date":"2017-12-01T13:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T21:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?p=2026"},"modified":"2025-05-14T13:31:50","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T20:31:50","slug":"rhinoceros-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/rhinoceros-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rhinoceros’ takes the stage at Palomar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Set to open on Friday, Dec. 1, Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s avant-garde drama delivers food for thought in a season of turmoil similar to the playwright\u2019s postwar life in Romania.<\/p>\n

SAN MARCOS \u2014 On a quiet Saturday afternoon at Palomar College, Dori Sanchis and Nate Ritchey were rehearsing a scene from \u201cRhinoceros,\u201d by the Romanian playwright Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco, in which one of the characters sprouts horns and turns into a rhino.<\/p>\n

The scene is funny and bizarre\u2014true to Ionesco, a member of the so-called \u201cTheatre of the Absurd\u201d\u2014and director John Polak seemed delighted in how it was turning out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the type of routine I think you want to get in your body,\u201d he told the actors while perched on a step at the edge of the stage. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to memorize something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polak, himself a long-time actor, said he chose the play because, even though it was written in 1959, it resonates with current events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about politics, necessarily. It\u2019s going to land on the audience however it lands on the audience,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when people read the play, they have their own ideas of what the rhinoceroses are. I find that very interesting. I\u2019ve had people read the play and go, \u2018Oh, I\u2019ve got my rhinoceroses!\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, I think the play is about conformity, the rights of the individual, and the community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Director

“Rhinoceros” Director John Polak works with Dori Sanchis, left, and Nate Ritchey, not pictured, during rehearsal on Nov. 18. Photos by Tom Pfingsten.<\/p><\/div>\n

Opening Friday, Dec. 1 at the Studio Theatre, the show features a cast of 10 actors and 10 student crew members, plus faculty. All told, some 25 people will have helped bring \u201cRhinoceros\u201d to the stage when the lights go up this weekend.<\/p>\n

The show runs through Dec. 10 and tickets are available online.<\/p>\n

For Sanchis, who plays a lead character named Jean, the production has been \u201cvery exciting and very challenging and very enjoyable, at the same time. John is a brilliant director, and a friend. And I\u2019ve enjoyed working with all the other actors, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Austin Williams, who is double-cast as Dudard and a cafe proprietor in \u201cRhinoceros,\u201d said Polak has challenged the cast to act with their bodies: \u201cI\u2019ve always been taught that to create a proper character, you want to meld that character\u2019s inner dialog with your own,\u201d said Williams. \u201cJohn has been pushing us to create a physical embodiment of the characters, so that the character is created by your body language.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victoria Heather Fiore, who has been acting at Palomar for nearly 20 years, said that she had wanted to work with Polak, and \u201cRhinoceros\u201d gave her the chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have an actor directing, they understand your struggle,\u201d said Fiore. \u201cThey\u2019ve been on the opposite side of the table. He\u2019ll say things that only an actor would get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polak spent most of the recent Saturday rehearsal leaning forward or pacing as the actors went over their scenes. He is animated and passionate and is fascinated with the philosophy behind the play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a team effort, and I\u2019m really proud of the ensemble and everybody\u2019s contribution,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have a very talented group of young Palomar theatre artists and I\u2019ve been very inspired by what the students are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Set in a small French village, Ionesco\u2019s play was intensely political when it debuted. Today, Polak said, the story resonates with people of a different culture who are grappling with similar themes.<\/p>\n

\"Actor

Nate Ritchey plays the role of Berenger in “Rhinoceros,” opening Dec. 1 at the Studio Theatre at Palomar College.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI like theatre where the audience can\u2019t sit back and relax. I don\u2019t want the audience to sit back and relax. I want them to lean forward,\u201d Polak said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start listening to the dialog and the conversations between the characters, there is a lot of deep meaning, and you don\u2019t even notice, because he\u2019s making you laugh at the same time,\u201d added Sanchis. \u201cI\u2019d bet you if there are 99 people sitting here, each one is going to understand it in a different way. It\u2019s very intelligent writing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Suraci, who also plays two roles in the production said that he loved the script when he first read it \u201cbecause of all of the crazy, secret, hidden stuff in the text.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPalomar has left this great taste in my mouth, because I love the stuff we do,\u201d Suraci said.<\/p>\n

Fiore agreed: \u201cPalomar always produces plays ahead of the times to meet a real-world issue that\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his part, Polak is looking forward to seeing how the story sits with Palomar\u2019s audience: \u201cIt\u2019s a provocative play. I love it when, after the show, the audience is more concerned with talking about the social issue than talking about how wonderful the cast was, you know? That\u2019s what curtain calls are for. Hopefully the audience leaves the theatre having conversations with friends about what their rhinoceroses are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Set to open on Friday, Dec. 1, Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s avant-garde drama delivers food for thought in a season of turmoil similar to the playwright\u2019s postwar life in Romania. SAN MARCOS \u2014 On a quiet Saturday afternoon at Palomar College, Dori Sanchis and Nate Ritchey were rehearsing a scene from \u201cRhinoceros,\u201d by the Romanian playwright Eug\u00e8ne… \u00a0Continue Reading: ‘Rhinoceros’ takes the stage at Palomar<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10413,"featured_media":2030,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,23,18],"tags":[30,36,37],"class_list":["post-2026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-features","category-home","category-slider","tag-events","tag-performing-arts","tag-theater"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n'Rhinoceros' takes the stage at Palomar - Palomar News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Palomar's staging of Eug\u00e8ne Ionesco\u2019s avant-garde drama serves food for thought in a season of turmoil similar to the playwright\u2019s postwar life in Romania.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/rhinoceros-theatre\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Rhinoceros' takes the stage at Palomar - 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