'State of the Art' Secured in Play

Author: Freeman Lee White Staff Writer

To those of you who did not see this Hepburn Zoo production, you missed out. The story of the play starts almost 500 years after August 1945, when earth's inhabitants were forced by nuclear fallout to take their culture below ground. The plot shows how the intertwining lives of four citizens (Rand, Seren, Doubleday and Kelty) conflict with their totalitarian government, The State. Nick Olson '02, who wrote the play and acted as Doubleday, showed the human desire for freedom at odds with The State's need to bend its citizens to one common will.

Olson put the voice of The State into three characters: Emperor von Krieg (CEO of The State), Gelding (a local magistrate) and Mazer (a cog in The State's law enforcement machinery). Throughout the play the audience is shown how the citizens' passion for freedom of will and artistic expression conflict with a government. This struggle is embodied in both Kelty's pursuit of forbidden historical facts and Seren and Rand's mural commemorating the political regime's 500th anniversary. The play ends like other distopian literature, with the rebel, in this case Kelty, being brainwashed into submission by the The State.

To those who made this show, I offer some of my feedback. Kelty's scenes with Mazer were exciting to watch. Using many tactics from seduction to challenging of assumptions Zoe Anastassiou '03, playing Kelty, helped craft these scenes into engaging gems. Some of her earlier moments suffered from a lack of specificity. Her speech in the capital is one example. There are many ways to convince a crowd, I only saw a couple.

I loved watching Joe Manganiello's '04 character, Mazer, get confused by Kelty. However, Manganiello needed to find more levels in his portrayal of confusion. Manganiello was given the hard task of commenting on and playing the character at the same time. With that comes the responsibility to both show us a comment (the confused morality of a State) and the reality behind that character. I missed most of the reality of Mazer's life.

Nick Bayne '02 was great as Emperor Von Kreig. Bayne danced skillfully on that thin line between commenting on a character and being the character. Bayne's intention was too general in the middle of the art appraisal scene. By his exit Kreig was both likable and despicable again. At that point I saw a return to the intriguing duality in the characterization.

Ben Correale's '03 striking physicality as Gelding filled out his dialogue. Note that Correale has been cast as the same character about three times now. The unemotional State poster child is a fun person to play and watch. However, the repetition of hand gestures from earlier characters (bringing fingertips together for example) pulled focus from this character and denoted a tendency. Keep searching for fresh ways to inhabit characters.

Kate Kelleher Spector's '04 background as a dancer paid off with her role as Seren. Her stage presence, posture and focus while painting the invisible were impressive. In the opening, Spector's choice to play the one focused objective of getting the painting started got her stuck in a rut. There were many interesting places to take the character that got steamrolled by the single-track focus. I completely missed what was going on in the character's subtext until much later in the play.

Rand, played by Chris Timberlake '02, was fun to watch. I was captivated by his wit and mirth coupled with his passion and drive. The large flaw in that is the missing wisdom and age the character called for. Rand's body was too agile and his mood too young for the old man the text alluded to.

Without the creative designs of Tim Brownell '02 and Jenny March '04 the show would have been lost. The hard shutter lines placed on the set divided the small space beautifully. The design's focus on the throne and the omniscient face became a strong visual metaphor alluding to The State's invasive presence in each scene. While the white box was employed masterfully its continual placement up center made the stage picture didactic and too centrally composed which pulled focus unnecessarily.

The costumes of Christine Huwer '02 greatly aided the actor's portrayal of the characters. Slight changes in dress could have done more to portray a culture driven underground in August of 1945.

Audrey Laning '04 probably didn't get enough credit for her investment in this production. Thanks for making this show possible.

Dave Gaddas '02 directed magically with the demanding script. His casting choices and especially his dynamic staging demonstrated skill and dedication to the purpose of the play. One area for growth lies in the fact the actors often intentionally flattened their roles and made the more general choice. The director's part in this is large though not total. The play was about people who were being submitted to a generalist regime, but the acting should never parallel that

Olson and Gaddas are a dynamic duo. They have much strength both separately and as a team. Olson's portrayal of Doubleday was potent, intricate, and a pleasure to learn from. His commitment to the process shone through magnificently. I enjoyed seeing the little bits of another Zoo show, "The Possibilities," which sneaked into the production. My criticism of Olson's script lies mainly in its beginning and first act. Exposition has to happen, but it took away from the establishment of character relationships early in the play. The wit and humor carried the play through to its horrific ending. Doubleday's vulnerability was stimulated by the stronger choices Olson made with the script in the second act. The play showed love, art and The State all buckled in to one roller coaster screaming towards Apocalypse. Throughout the ride the moments where those three elements conflicted were the most powerful.