Fair 48° F

Home > Archive > Mar 27, 2008

Local Playwright’s ‘House Ghost’ at St. George Opera House
By Diana Ireland Stanley
As part of the Dixie Dramatic Association’s dedication to local playwrights, Hal Hickman will direct the premier of his original play “House Ghost” at the St. George Opera House. The comedy will run March 27, 28 and 29 and April 3 and 4, at 7:30 p.m.
A veteran of theater, television and radio, Hickman brings of wealth of training and experience to the DDA stage. He holds degrees in Speech and Theater from Southern Utah University and the University of Utah. Additionally, Hickman earned a doctorate degree from the Department of Speech and Theater at Brigham Young University, where he taught classes as an assistant professor of communications and worked as assistant director of the Motion Picture Studios.
Hickman is an emeritus professor of Northern Arizona University, where he taught mass communication courses for 20 years. While there, he served as chair for the speech communications department and as assistant dean of the School of Communications.
Many St. George residents know him as the former owner of KONY-FM and KUNF (AM) radio stations. He has also built and managed television stations in Las Vegas and Ogden, produced hundreds of television programs and a few films.
Hickman’s love of theater began in the fifth grade in Beaver, Utah, when he was cast as the head Shepherd in his school’s annual Christmas program. He remembers performing in the high school auditorium, “which I thought was really ‘up town’ at the time. Wow! A stage and everything!” Worried that Hickman would forget his single line in stage fright, his teacher drilled him continuously.
“Because of that drilling,” Hickman laughs, “I’ve been able to quote the line for the past 60 years. (The play) went off without a hitch, and I was hooked!”
While many of his friends are more interested in television and movies, Hickman is convinced that theater is still very relevant to today’s society. Hickman compares live theater as “feasting and dining” to electronic media as simply “eating.”
“You can get the same nourishment from both, but the first is so much more enjoyable,” he said.
Hickman believes that theater is important for children as well as adults. He worries that the prevalence of electronic entertainment, such as television, movies and video games, has resulted in less imaginary play.
“Their make-believe, I fear, has been packaged,” he said. “We seem to have forced them into organized sports. That’s sad because I think there is a need for children to play dramatically, individually and in groups. Sports are excellent for their bodies, but theater is important for their minds and creativity.”
    While Hickman concedes the difficulties in staging community theater, he claims that its weaknesses are also its strengths.
“Because community theater offers the opportunity for anyone in town to be a part of live theater, it offers a freshness that professional and regional theaters can’t,” he said.
Participants stamp a production with their own local perspective. Newcomers learn from seasoned volunteers. Limited budgets produce unique creativity. Neighbors work together to balance their busy schedules and form a cohesive team. The result is a unique production that has never been seen before, Hickman said.
“The level of theater must be equal to or better than the media because (people) have established a quality level in their minds by watching a lot of film and TV that must be matched in live presentation – a very difficult level to reach in local theater,” he said.
Hickman is cheered, though, to see people returning to live theater and hopes that the DDA will allow more people to become involved at whatever level suits them, whether on the stage, behind the scenes or just in the audience. He is especially pleased with the DDA’s emphasis on staging original scripts by local playwrights, a rare opportunity for a community the size of Washington County.
“House Ghost” is Hickman’s fourth original script and his first to be performed at the Opera House. His other three are “Case Before the Court,” a musical farce; “Satan Came With Them,” a historical drama on the court trials of John D. Lee; and “Front Porch,” a comedy/drama.
Among his many acting roles, Hickman mentioned “The Merchant of Venice” and “Mornings at Seven,” as well as Mr. Potter in St. George Musical Theater’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He has directed “Our Town” three times, “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “The Fantastiks,” “Once Upon a Mattress,” “Miracle on 34th Street” and “Harvey.” Most recently, he directed the original play “Teacher’s Lounge” for the DDA at the St. George Opera House.
Hickman’s writing credits extend to a published textbook titled “Television Directing,” and he is currently working on three new books: “Horn Silver,” a history of the ghost town Frisco, Utah; “Passages,” a science fiction novel, and “Images,” a book on the theory of visual perception and its application in the media.
Now retired, Hickman currently lives in St. George with his wife of 54 years, Joan. They have four children, 13 grandchildren and one and one half great-grandchildren.

---