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Abortion debate drives ‘Keely and Du’

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By Justin McClelland, Staff Writer 7:49 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — The Middletown Lyric Theatre presents “Keely and Du” this weekend — a play that deals with the controversial subject of abortion by exploring the relationship between two people at extreme ends of the debate.

“It’s not a story you are typically going to see,” said director Brent Myer. “ ‘Keely and Du’ deals with story in ways that are subtle. It's not trying to beat you over the head with anything. By the same token, some shocking things do happen.”

“Keely and Du” is the story of a pregnant rape victim who is kidnapped by a extreme pro-life activist to prevent her from having an abortion.

Myer said the intention of the play is not to take a stand on the issue or even debate it but be a character study of two people bound by such an extreme circumstance.

“I don’t think it’s an issue play so much as it's the story of one woman’s strength and her ability to overcome,” said Kaleigh-Brooke Dillingham, who plays the kidnapped Keely.

Bett Kooris who plays the right wing radical Du said the play is challenging and makes the audience think without being “preachy.”

“The playwright does a good job of showing both sides’ conflict and human frailty,” Korris said. “It doesn’t force an opinion or try to make the audience chose a side.”

“Our goal is always to focus on the acting,” Myer said. “The story we tell is the one in the text. We’re not trying to over-impose anything on it.”

Learning to act while chained to a bed for the duration of the play presented its own challengers for Dillingham.

“As an actor you are always taught to emote with your body,” Dillingham said. “Here, the physicality of acting is stripped and you are left with a look the character might give another. It’s very eye opening as a performer.”

Kooris agreed that her rule was challenging to perfect, but for different reasons. She wanted to make Du into a fully formed character with understandable, if objectionable, motivations.

“I had to get into the mind-set of a very submissive, but otherwise intelligent woman,” Kooris said. “You have to suspend part of who you are to really inhabit her and make her likable to the audience.”

Dillingham said tackling the controversial subject was exciting for her, although she admits her parents are “concerned” about seeing their daughter chained to a bed.

The Middletown Lyric Theatre is located at 1530 Central Ave. All tickets are $13 and the play begins at 8 p.m. today and Saturday.

Due to intense situations and subject matter, the play is recommended only for mature audiences.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4544 or jmcclelland@coxohio.com.

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