Review: Frontczak amazes

Jo Teeters
Managing Editor
Mar. 4, 2004, Page 5

“Manya: A Living History of Marie Curie” is a stunning retelling of the highlights of the life of an amazing woman. Susan Marie Frontczak performed the play at 7 p.m. Thursday in Heckman.
One aspect that makes this one-woman play, written by the actress, so amazing is its format. Where some people would have stood at a podium and lectured on Curie’s accomplishments or turned the play into a theatrical extravaganza, Frontczak, in the persona of Curie, speaks directly to the audience about her life. She breaks down the fourth wall of the theatre and draws the audience into the story.
Frontczak’s acting also made it an enthralling experience. With minimal props, a Victorian table and chair set and an old table with antique laboratory equipment, Frontczak acted out tasks such as shoveling a ton of pitch blend to extract pure uranium and brushing Curie’s daughters’ hair. Frontczak performed so well that it almost seemed she really was shoveling pitch blend or brushing the girls’ hair.
Frontczak’s acting was punctuated by the lighting. As Frontczak enacted Curie’s discovery of radium, the stage went completely black, revealing the blue glow of radium in the vial she held. After the intermission, the lights gradually come up, bringing the audience back into the story. Another effective use of lighting came toward the middle of the second act, after the death of Curie’s husband, Pierre.
The only light left was a blue-toned spotlight on Frontczak, perhaps symbolizing the loneliness Curie felt. As Frontczak told of Curie taking her husband’s old teaching position, she moved from the blue spotlight into another, brighter spot. The light increased in size until the stage lights were all lit again, signaling that Curie had transitioned out of her grief and into the rest of her life.
Frontczak ended with loud applause from an audience of around 100 people.
The ending of the play seemed a little rushed; still, it was a wonderful experience.