By Katie Potzick
This week at the Thrust Theatre, a group of students presented a series of three creative works that brought current American issues to the forefront. “Refractions” was an illuminating and challenging tour de’force of student writing, acting and directing by Rhea Lehman.
The first piece presented was “Murdering the Innocents,” an adaptation of the Dickens’ novel “Hard Times.” The actors brought to life a scene from a Victorian school room where facts and knowledge took precedence over “wonder” or any kind of imaginative thinking.
This powerful scene was reminiscent of modern schools, where cramming students full of information for standardized tests leaves little room for creativity. The costumes and the scenery were exceptional and easily transported the audience back to the 19th century.
Overall the acting was well done, especially that of the Gentleman and Bitzer who brought what little humor there was to the scene. The piece’s downfall came in the form of the Victorian dialogue which made the piece authentic, but was also confusing and hard to follow.
Perhaps the best moment took place after the scene had ended and the male cast members were changing out props. The actors stayed in character the whole time, and their physical humor, especially that of the shuffling, sway-backed Gentleman, elicited several laughs from the audience.
The second work was “Glory in the Daytime,” which was modified from a Dorothy Parker short story by Christine Leidner. This piece, although set in the 1920s, perfectly mirrored the celebrity obsessed culture of today.
The plot centered on a meeting between Mrs. Murdock and a famous actress, Lily Wynton. Alaine Livingston, the student that played Lily, had remarkable comedic timing and was excellent in her part as an alcoholic, has been struggling with failed relationships. Alaine’s performance really woke up the audience and kept their attention.
“Glory” explored the tendency of average Americans to build up celebrities to worship status and how these perceptions are all based on fake images, and touched up reality. In the age of the tabloids and E!, this piece was excellent social commentary.
“Heresy,” the third and final piece, written by Raven J. Railey, was easily the most ambitious and thought provoking of all the works. In contrast with the preceding pieces, “Heresy” was set in the present and not adapted from fiction, which gave it a contemporary and fresh feel.
It exposed and explored the American religious issues of diversity, tolerance and freedom of choice through singing, acting, jokes and media clips.
The audience members were captivated by the symbolic images and sound bites on the screens, and amused by the running joke of how many (fill in a religion: Lutherans, Muslims, Roman Catholics, etc.) it takes to change a light bulb.
The opinions and testimonies of the actors resonated true to many of the views I hold and illuminated a lot of stereotypes. The only flaw I found with the production was the length made the tone of the message border on didactic.
The audience was a good mix of U of L students and older patrons. Billy Garland found the production to be “Absolutely amazing,” and stated that it took a “bold stance” on a lot of important issues. Nick Moore was in agreement and said, “All three pieces made valid points about American society.” Perhaps freshman theater major Colby Ballowe put it best when he said, “I really liked ‘Refractions.’ I was impressed that students actually wrote it.”
“Refractions” proved that students are capable of creating theater productions. The performances were a winning combination of good acting and interesting, provocative material. After this experience I eagerly look forward to more student scripted performances in the future.
