When it arrives June 19, Pasadena City College’s latest summer theater production –Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology – will land on the centennial of the 1915 collection of poems it was based on.
It will also mark another occasion: the final production of director Whitney Rydbeck as a full-time PCC instructor.
Rydbeck, whose affiliation with the college goes back four decades, recently announced his retirement as assistant professor of theater arts. Spoon River Anthology, which he co-directs alongside instructor Sandra Massie, will be his last full-time production.
“I just turned 70 and I had been going back and forth on the decision,” said Rydbeck, who first started at PCC as an adjunct instructor in 1975. “I thought about if it was worth teaching another couple of years. I wanted to carry on and direct more musicals. I didn’t feel I was ready to hang it up.”
PCC’s retirement package, however, was too good of an opportunity to pass up, Rydbeck said. So, he took it. He has already made plans after academia, and they include traveling worldwide as well as booking a cruise to Alaska in the immediate future.
Rydbeck is also tinkering with the idea of making a return to one of his favorite pursuits: acting. The veteran performer appeared in more than a dozen television shows and films during the 1990s. Things tapered off after that decade as Rydbeck transitioned from an adjunct to full-time instructor at PCC.
Now that he’ll have more time, the desire to get in front of the camera is coming back.
“I’ll probably contact my agent to see what’s going on,” said Rydbeck, whose on-screen credits include roles in Rocky II and network television’s Scrubs. “Maybe I’ll play ‘old man’ roles.”
In the meantime, Rydbeck’s current role as co-director of Spoon River Anthology has kept him busy this semester. As is tradition with other summer productions, the play will have a large cast – 30 thespians.
It’s quite a difference from the first Broadway adaptation of the anthology in 1963 by Charles Aidman. “In the original play, there were four actors and two singers,” Rydbeck said. “We’re making this production more of a presentational, community effort. You come to see this play for the performances of our students. There’s music and a bit of choreography.”
Published in 1915 by Masters and met with critical acclaim, Spoon River Anthology is a collection of epitaphs from the residents of a small town. Told in short, free-form poems, the epitaphs are meant to dispel the myths of small-town American life.
“It has universal appeal,” Rydbeck said. “These people talk from the grave about their lives, their secrets, their fortunes, and their failures. So much we see in literature is how we see things as how they should be and not what’s true. In this play, they speak about secrets they’ve held onto all their lives. When they pass on, there’s no reason for them to hold onto these secrets.
“After hearing their stories, you have empathy for them,” he added. “It’s the empathy that makes us human. This play draws that out. It’s a celebration of life and the universal themes of life: sorrow, humor and joy.”
Even though the play would be considered his PCC “swan song,” Rydbeck is careful to call it as such. He said he hopes the door will be open to give him the opportunity to come back as a part-time director.
But whatever the future holds, Rydbeck is certain about one thing: his passion for teaching.
“I will miss the students. Working with them. Seeing them grow. Directing them in plays. Being able to take what I’ve learned and give it to them. That’s what I’ll miss the most.”
Spoon River Anthology opens Friday, June 19 at 8 p.m. in the Center for the Arts Theatre (CA 135). Other performances will be held on June 20, 25, 26 and 27 at 8 p.m. and matinee viewings on June 20 and 27 at 2 p.m. For more information, please visit www.pasadena.edu/pccartsevents.
