Student plays win audiences

Student-directed plays take Little Theater by storm

Little Theater was swamped with student directed plays Wednesday and will be again tonight. The three plays performed Wednesday night were all by popular playwrights, but they were given a special spin by the students who acted in and directed them. Each play was unique in its own way, sometimes shallow in meaning, sometimes striving for a deeper goal. The plays were humorous, sensitive, insensitive, filled with anger and hate. They faltered in some places - as can happen in any performance situation - but overall, the evening provided an impressive image of the Oberlin Student Theater Department.

The first play of the evening was Sam Shepard's Action. It began with four individuals sitting around a small dinner table, routinely taking drinks from their glasses. There was some time before anyone said anything, and after the first person spoke, the play descended into absurdity. Action was directed by junior Lisa Ward, and starring senior Cory Wallace, junior Rajiv Punja, sophomores Ria Cooper and Molly Benson as the four seemingly poor and disturbed individuals who were enjoying (or agonizing over) what appeared to be Christmas dinner. Complete with a turkey that had been raised and killed by Liza, who was Benson's character in the play.

The situation was never clear in the play; at one instance it was quite obvious they were a poor family, at another it seemed that they just lived simply on a farm. In yet another scene, it appeared as if each character was on a search for a deeper sense of self, and the next moment they just seemed crazy. At times when the play seemed to be driving at something they were interrupted by the interpretation of a dancing bear, or some other such foolishness. While it was nice to get inside the mind of a dancing bear, these times were only good for a laugh, and nothing more.

About midway through the play Shooter (Punja) made the decision to never again leave his chair, and Jeep (Wallace) threw and stomped on his chair numerous times. At times, a piece of paper was passed around that was supposed to resemble a book. As the book was passed around, characters would start to read from different places, creating stories that were intertwined. The play seemed more like a collection of stories than a complete play and it ended as abruptly as it had began. Whether Action had a point or not is something of a mystery to this reviewer. It was humorous at times, sometimes very touching, but in the end it left the watcher feeling confused.

The play entitled Marie and Bruce was the second of the evening. Beginning with an angry tone, Marie, the fed-up wife (played by sophomore Jaime Currier) verbally abuses her husband by using an arsenal of insults on him at a wicked hour of the morning. Bruce (first-year Michael Lebovitz) takes them all with a smile and gets up to make his angry wife coffee and breakfast. The audience hears nearly everything from Marie's point of view; how she was fed up with him because her husband had asked for a 200 year-old typewriter, which she had thrown away. It seems a petty reason to decide to leave somebody, but the audience soon finds that there is a deeper meaning to her reasons for attempting to break up the marriage.

The play transverses a day in the life of this couple. We see them mingling with other people at a party, cleverly illuminating the flippancy of small talk. The audience is witness to some meaningless conversations among fellow partygoers (played by first-years Mathieu Huot, Tyrone Rogers, Leslie Korein, Joya Colon Berezin, sophomore Ariana Joyce). Marie is sick throughout the party -prior to which she had a 'spiritual' enlightenment in which she makes her final decision to leave her husband.

As Marie is trying to rest at the party, Bruce is getting smashed. He slowly becomes less of a doting, oblivious husband, and more of a stereotypical male chauvinist pig. He describes his afternoon encounter with two women's breasts. He is more affectionate towards his wife, saying things that are very unbecoming of his character in the beginning - one who took his wife's insults with a smile.

It is now his opportunity to turn insults upon her, and he does so with no restraint. Later in the evening, Marie retaliates at dinner, telling Bruce that she never loved him, that he was dead in her eyes, and that he never existed. Surprisingly, Bruce takes this all rather quietly, and begins say something about homosexuals, and something about how he loves his wife. He protests, but in a small way, saying, "But you can't leave me," to no avail. In the end, the couple returns home, quietly, and they get back into bed.

Marie and Bruce is a good play overall, exploring the aspects of the sexual self and exploring the dynamics of a relationship gone bad. Lebovitz and Currier are convincing in relaying the feeling of the suffering characters, and the other characters make for good background. The play is well written and meaningful and is definitely worth the watch.

Artist Descending the Staircase was the final play of the night. It was comprised of excellently interwoven parts and plot. It begins with three men, all in their old age - one who is lying dead on the floor. The play begins trying to define who the murderer might be. Of course, the possible murderer can only be one of two people - the two men that are still living. Marcello, played by sophomore Nick Sweeney, and Beauchamp, played by senior Sandy Bilus, are listening to a tape that recorded the sudden death of their friend, Donner (played by first-year Raphael Martin). Beauchamp was recording silence, calling it 'art', and he picked up Donner's last words: "Ah! There you are!" and then a sudden scream of terror. The railing on the staircase is broken, and Donner lies at the bottom of the stairs. Beauchamp relays the possible scene of the accident or crime, all the while accusing Marcello.

The play flashes back to possible motives for each man to murder their longtime friend - and of course we find that there is a woman at the core. Sophie (senior Anna Winthrop), a young and beautiful blind girl, falls in love with Beauchamp, and steals the heart of the desceased Donner. Sophie is attracted to the art of Beauchamp, and she lives with the three artists, pining over who she thinks is the love of her life.

In the end, after many twists, we find that Sophie was all the while in love with Donner - mistaking his painting for one of Beauchamp's - as her vision was not too good before she lost it entirely. She throws herself through a window, killing herself. Patrick Hughes does a good job of directing the play written by Tom Stoppard, and the actors bring their characters to life very well. It is a play about love, about friendships among men, and most of all, about art, and what it means to the individual. And exactly how is Donner killed? That is something the readers will have to find for themselves.

The butler did it: Jen Dominguez and Ivor Edmonds aren't really surprised, they're just acting. (photo by Areca Treon)