Actors kindle a classic for the 'Big Read'

By Jeff Morganteen / Special Correspondent /Stamford Advocate

NORWALK - Reading lines from a three-ring binder, Mario Fuentes, a 45-year-old actor from Port Chester, N.Y., channeled a fireman from the future.

"Kerosene is nothing but perfume to me," he recited. Fuentes played Guy Montag, a fireman in Ray Bradbury's seminal science fiction novel "Fahrenheit 451." The book portrays a dystopian future society in which all books are deemed anti-social. It's Montag's job to find and burn them - and the houses where they're found.

Fuentes performed yesterday at Norwalk Public Library on Belden Avenue with 14 other actors from the Carriage House Arts Center, which operates out of Cranbury Park.

The reading, from the play based on the book, was sponsored by "The Big Read," an annual literacy program from the library and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The library is handing out 1,000 copies of the book as part of the program, which began April 6 and lasts until June 30.

Frank Gaffney directed the production - a reading, rather than a full-stage play. Actors read lines with emotion but acted out scenes without props or scenery. They practiced the reading in four rehearsals over a month.

Most actors hadn't read the book since high school, they said.

"This is a boiled-down version of (Bradbury's) main ideas," Gaffney said. "You couldn't possibly read this book in two hours, which is what we're doing." Bradbury adapted the play in the late 1970s but it wasn't published in that format until 1986. The book was published in 1953, and French filmmaker Francois Truffaut made a move version in 1965. Sasha Gardniner, a reference librarian and Big Read coordinator, said the play offers deeper character development than the book, along with changes that may have been inspired by the film.

Gardniner said the reading is chance for those who may not have read the book to delve deeper into its important anti-censorship themes.

"It just brings it alive to hear it," Gardniner said. "A lot of people don't know how powerful a book can be if you hear it."

In yesterday's reading, audience members and actors alike were reminded of the power of books. Fuentes' character, the protagonist, undergoes a moral transformation after he sees a women set herself on fire instead of give up her beloved classic texts.

"Your learned reference will gain you nothing but a scorched wit and a burnt complexion," said Brad Shwidock, a Stamford dentist playing the fire chief, tells the book collector, Mrs. Hudson.

Mrs. Hudson then holds up a match and motions to set her books and herself aflame, also sparking Montag's curiosity in the underground literary world. Andrea Garmon, a 57-year-old Milford actress, played Mrs. Hudson.

Garmon said "Fahrenheit 451" is a fitting novel for the Big Read because it speaks out about censorship while promoting the written word.

Aspiring playwright Alisa Pruner, 35, watched the reading from the audience. She attended because she liked the book's writing style and relevance. "It's very powerful and interesting how, in this day and age, books are an important way to tap into your imagination," Pruner said.