'Star Wars' abridged and on stage

One man. One hour. Three "Star Wars" movies.

Appealing to both the "Star Wars" fanatic and the casual viewer, actor Charles Ross will transport the audience at the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theater Monday at 8 p.m. to a time long ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Using only his creativity, Ross manages to condense nearly 7 hours of legendary Star Wars films and nearly 80 different characters into a one-man, hour-long performance.

The show has been performed throughout Canada and the United States since its premier in Toronto in January 2001. In an interview with The Spectrum, Ross said the original idea came from his childhood love of the films.

"I enjoyed (the 'Star Wars' trilogy) greatly as a kid," Ross said. "The idea came out of talking with friends. I had been working as an actor for 10 years and wanted to get out of working for other theaters. The show really encapsulates my enjoyment of Star Wars in a sort of 'Reader's Digest' version of it all."

From his original idea, Ross worked with director TJ Dawe to help put the show into production. Although Ross essentially wrote the show on his own, he appreciated and respected Dawe's input as both a director and a friend.

"It was a slow process working with TJ, and we didn't know if it would work," Ross said. "He added to my ideas and we added more people with informed opinions."

While Ross certainly isn't the first to create a show based on impressions-Rick Miller visited the CFA two years ago with "MacHomer," a one-man performance of Shakespeare's "Macbeth" using characters from "The Simpsons"-he feels his personal style and sense of humor have made the show a success.

"When you see the show, this is my sense of humor," he said. "It's an absurd concept to take something so super high-tech, and take away all the tech. There's no set, no costumes."

If it wasn't hard enough to believe that Ross could condense the first three "Star Wars" movies into an hour, take into account the fact the he doesn't use any of the typical costumes or props that many audience members may expect.

"If you use one prop, may as well use two, three. It's just me in black clothing. I use lights now, but that's it," Ross said. "I think it sparks people's imaginations. Once you get into the style of my show, you have to use your imagination to fill in the gaps."

Out of the dozens of original "Star Wars" characters, Ross imitates approximately 40 of them throughout the performance. The show promises to have all the impressions that any mildly informed viewer would expect like Chewbacca, R2-D2, Yoda and many more.

Ross has spent over three years touring with this show from coast to coast throughout North America. From August to December of this year, the show is being performed regularly off-Broadway at Lamb's Theater in Manhattan.

Ross has also developed a similar one-man, one-hour show for arguably the second most popular trilogy series in cinematic history, "The Lord of the Rings."

Lucasfilms, as well as "Star Wars" fanatics across the country, have recognized Ross' homage to the Star Wars trilogy.

"This show was written with 'Star Wars' fans in mind. That's my dream audience," Ross said. "If there was ever a demographic, it would be a 'Star Wars' convention with the superfans. They're absolutely going to get something out of it that everyone else is not."

Among his hundreds of performances, Ross visits colleges often.

"I love performing for college audiences. They pick up on certain things, and it tends to be a smarter audience," he said. "As I get older, it's a funny thing that college audiences are no longer the people I grew up with in the '80s. I have to wonder if the audience is still as 'Star Wars'-savvy."

Ross managed to begin performing his show without proper licensing.

"I've been very lucky. Even if people have some lofty goals, go for it," he said. "Try to do something. See how it feels, see how it flies. If you do something quality, powers-that-be won't squash you. They're going to recognize a quality performance."

Whether UB students have the trilogy (and then some) memorized or only know what they've seen of "Star Wars'" legendary presence in American pop culture, Ross's strange and engaging performance promises to leave everyone at the CFA Monday amused and informed. For information and tickets, visit www.ubcfa.org.