Oregon State University professor Vreneli Farber spends spare time acting, writing

By THERESA HOGUE
The Entertainer

Getting back into the academic groove is especially difficult the first few weeks of fall term, as professors reluctantly return to their classrooms after a long summer of writing and research, and students switch from vacation or full-time work mode to hours of lectures and late nights in the library.

For Oregon State University Professor of Russian language Vreneli Farber, this fall is going to be especially challenging. In addition to her teaching load, Farber will be appearing in a revival of last summer's University Theatre production of "Steel Magnolias," and a night of improvisation with Thriving Theater during the first week of class, the revival of University Theater's "Treehouses," during her third week of class, and rehearsal for the Corvallis Community Theater's performance of "Blithe Spirit," which opens in November. 

"It's pretty tricky," Farber said, sitting in the calm of her home office on the first day of fall, before the storm of work officially hit. Oh, and did she mention her writing project?

"The real trick this fall is I'm working on a book," she said.

The book focuses on actor training in post-Soviet Russia. Farber spent time in 2000 and 2001 with the St. Petersburg Academy of Theatre Arts doing research for the book and had planned to complete the work this summer.

But when her twin sister, an artist working in Bulgaria, came down with appendicitis and had to go through emergency surgery, Farber dropped her writing plans and flew to Eastern Europe to be with her. It was the right decision, she said, and her sister recovered, but it pushed her project into fall term, smack in the middle of a flurry of other theatrical and academic demands.

However, Farber is excited more than stressed about her upcoming adventures on stage. She became involved in theater during high school, first appearing as the mother in "Meet Me In St. Louis," which turned out to be the first of many "mother" roles she has played during her lifetime (nine that she can recall).

As an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, she also played a lot of ingénues, but found her breakthrough role in Chekhov's "The Anniversary," as Tatiana Alekseevna, which she said her shed any inhibitions she had on-stage.

While her focus was on languages and literature at Harvard and Indiana universities, Farber continued to be involved in theater, and when she came to OSU in the early 1970s, she got involved in community theater groups and did a post-baccalaureate degree in theater, just to make it official. The connection between theater and languages is a natural one, she said.

"I've always said the appeal of learning a foreign language is you in a way become a different person," she said. "When you're speaking, it's like playing various roles."

Becoming a different person is also the appeal of appearing in a play, living the life of someone else, albeit briefly.

Farber also directs and has directed 10 plays in Russian at OSU. She's done some acting in Russian as well, which causes her a little more fear than acting in English, but as a fluent speaker, she's always succeeded. She may act again this coming spring in a play she'll also direct, which provides its own difficulties as she has to switch back and forth between performer and director.

There are a few coveted roles that Farber has yet to play, including Blanche in "Streetcar Named Desire," and Madame Ranevsky in Chekhov's "The Cherry Orchard."

When Farber picks a role to audition for, she has two simple rules she tries to follow.

"Is it going to help me grow as an actress, and am I going to learn from the director?"

She enjoys working with Charlotte Headrick, a director with OSU University Theatre. Headrick is directing both upcoming revivals and has directed Farber in the past as well.

"I have learned a lot from her," Farber said. "She has stretched me as an actress."

As she ages, the choice of roles narrows in theater, but Farber says she doesn't have a lot of time, and it's probably good to be selective. As for jumping between two very different characters in "Steel Magnolias," and "Treehouses," Farber isn't worried about the challenge, but instead is pleased with the chance.

"I'm happy," she said, "I have this opportunity to play different roles."