Original art the centerpiece of Rose Theatre's new look

In the early 1980s, Kenn Stilson was a theater student at Southeast Missouri State University, and Craig Thomas was an art major minoring in technical theater. They worked on a number of productions together, including "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Thomas, one of Cape Girardeau's few full-time artists if not the only one, is known particularly for his murals and street painting. When the Department of Theatre and Dance decided to commission a large work of art to hang in the lobby of the Rose Theatre, he was the natural choice to paint it.

"He's an extraordinary talent," said Stilson, now the chairman of the department.

The 4-by-6 1/2-foot acrylic painting depicting an actor and three dancers will be unveiled Friday, opening night of the university's newest production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The unveiling will occur in the lobby of the Rose Theatre at intermission, just after the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri presents its Otto Dingeldein Award for Excellence in the Arts on the stage.

'Loose, gestural' painting

Thomas describes the painting as "loose, gestural and directional." Some parts are abstract. "The viewer has to look into it and see things," Thomas said.

He just returned from Kansas City, where he was the featured artist for the third time at La Strada del Arte, the largest street painting festival in the country. The festival is held in front of Union Station, the city's former train station restored as an entertainment and museum complex.

Thomas has painted a number of murals in Cape Girardeau, including one at Franklin Elementary School, a 50-foot mural in Southeast's Recreation Center, the mural on C.P. McGinty Jewelers, along with murals inside Broussard's restaurant and the nightclub Our House downtown.

His painting of the last legal hanging in the county is in the Cape Girardeau County Courthouse.

The new painting is as yet untitled. The male actor in the foreground is based on a photograph of University of Missouri professor Clyde Ruffin playing Prospero in Shakespeare's "The Tempest." Ruffin was one of Stilson's professors.

The dancers in the background were inspired by a photograph offered by Paul and Josephine Zmolek. Paul Zmolek teaches dance at Southeast and his wife, Josephine, has taught dance in recent years and has been his co-choreographer.

The painting to be hung on the Rose Theatre lobby south wall will be the centerpiece of a redecoration project under way. Rugs are being added to make the room look "less clinical," Stilson said. Incandescent lighting and silk flowers will add to the effect.

In addition, the plaques representing honors the department has received going back to the 1930s will be mounted on the walls.

Beth Scherer, the department's administrative assistant, has had a major hand in the project.

The painting and all the rest will be transferred to the River Campus once the new performing arts center is built. That is tentatively scheduled for 2007.

From 15 sketches

Members of the department faculty chose the final painting based on approximately 15 rough sketches Thomas made. He sometimes works from photographs and other times from the live models in the figure drawing group he runs Wednesday nights in the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri galleries.

Thomas built sets and worked backstage with props, the curtain and lighting while attending Southeast. He became involved in theater while an art major because he enjoyed the social interaction. "Different groups come together. People work closely together for hours," he said.

That's a big contrast with the work he normally does in his William Street studio.

"Being an artist is real singular," he said.

Theater, Thomas said, "brings all the humanities together."

Stilson said the painting "suggests poetry. When I look at the actor's face I see focus, concentration, an artist."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182