Fresno City College faculty and staff gathered Saturday in the theatre building to read selected excerpts by William Saroyan.
The reading culminated the FCC Art Gallery’s most recent display, “Lines, Lines, Lines,” which highlighted the life and works of Fresno’s own William Saroyan.
The reading was a medley from boxes of Saroyan’s writings contained in a special collection at Stanford University. After rummaging through the countless pieces, Theatre Arts instructors Chuck Erven and Debra Shapazian found pieces that worked well together and compiled them into an organized reading.
In a bare room containing only black chairs to complement its black walls, Pamella Thomas, ESL and Linguistics instructor at FCC began the presentation with “How to Write a Great Play #1,” noting that it is the very same way one writes a terrible play.
Next, College Activities Director Gurdeep Sihota and Speech and Theatre Arts instructor Tim Quinn read “Blooming Universe,” a comical dialogue between two very different individuals stranded on a deserted tropical island.
Then, Thomas read “How to Be a Great Writer,” aiding those in the audience still mulling over how to write a great play. Fine Performing and Communication Arts instructor Christopher Boltz came in after with a short journal entry.
These were followed by Thomas with “How to Write a Great Play #2,” which offered more satirical insight on the subject.
Six people took to reading for the larger performance of “Across the Board on Tomorrow Morning.”
In the story, many quirky encounters are observed at lively bar scene. For instance, after a strange man who walks into a bar informs a customer that nothing is real, the customer struggles to come to terms with the fact. Later, even the bartender reaffirms this tragic news to which the distraught customer replies that he would like another drink.
Thomas closed the reading with her third and final “How to Write a Great Play #3.” Attendees then shuffled over to the Art Space Gallery for refreshments and a last look at “Lines, Lines, Lines.”
Edward Lund organized the display in the art gallery. He described the process of portraying such a complex individual with objects in a display room.
“How can we have [Saroyan] there? And I thought to have actual lines that brought you into the way his head worked, perhaps,” said Lund.
Visitors of the art space gallery found short lines of Saroyan’s writing such as “I have a faint idea of what it is like to be alive” dotted around the walls. In the middle of the room a magnificent green bicycle hanged from the ceiling; on the floor, antique typewriters stirred thoughts of a late great writer working late into the night.
Also, a glass display case contained objects Saroyan was likely very familiar with. Old decks of cards, soft packs of cigarettes alongside old matchbooks and a cornucopia of writing utensils attempted to take viewers a bit closer to the world of Saroyan.
Lund said the title was an attempt to shed light on more than one of Saroyan’s many talents. “Written lines, drawn lines; two things Saroyan’s known for. And then spoken lines, coming from here, the spoken word, a line.”
