Zoo production stages fright and fancy

Author: Eleanor Johnstone


Audio produced by Radio Arts Middlebury.

Those attending last weekend's first-year show, "Severed Headshots: Sinister Scenes and Monologues," were presented with a wry work of well-wrought wisdom. And in that vein, it was an excellent tip-of-the-hat to the weekend's Halloween festivities. Audience members found their places in the characteristically packed Hepburn Zoo as edgy techno pulsated in the rose lighting that treated Claire Groby's '08 versatile, block-based set to a bloody wash. Once squeezed into place, the audience experienced both a look into the individual minds of Middlebury students and their satirical takes on our College community through a collection of scenes written by members of Visiting Lecturer in Theater Dana Yeaton's playwriting class.

"We wanted to do a dark show without having a 'horror show,' since the traditional horror format doesn't much allow for real relationships and dramatic meat for the actors to dig their teeth into," said Director Andy Mitton '01. "Dark" and "real" were certainly achieved - 20 original scenes addressed everything from psychological disorders and emotional denial to Facebooking that hot girl a few floors down "Fight Club" style. The prodding opening scene "In the Valley of the Shadow," written by Ellen Grafton '08, evoked the female image of Death before dissolving into a chaotic and desperate audition. In a memorable moment of the show, actors pressed forward to announce their names and prove their value. Stunts such as a back-breaking bend by contortionist Heather Pynne '11 were performed with a desperation reminiscent of students seeking college admission until Baker Coon's '10 faked death trumped all, inducing the actors to drop a few choice words and disperse upstage.

In the following scenes, individuals stepped in and out of a range of neurotic, senile, inhibited, horny or vengeful characters. In a chillingly environmentalist piece by Samantha Collier '09, Cori Hundt '11 unnerved the audience by forcing the innocence of a childish Gillian Durkee '11 into the bitterness of revolution. Michaela Lieberman '10.5 stunningly conveyed the numbing horrors of being a political prisoner while Coon helped her towards clarity, taking two full slaps in return. Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki's '08 "Behind the Light" represented stage fright as something felt even by non-actors.

On a lighter note, Martina Bonolis '10.5 became the victim of a purchased confidence in Laura Dalton's '10 "Missed to Missing." In one of the evening's most creative strokes, Alexander Manshel's '09 "Two Lefts" used the sultry talents of Willy McKay '11 and Gillian Durkee '11 to create a smoky, Humphrey Bogart-esque encounter between two undying lovers. Love was later treated to a twisted turn in pieces such as Colin Foss's '10 "Silent Treatment," a monologue of misinterpretation, and Emily Feldman's '09 "Measuring a Moment," in which practicality kills the magic of the moment.

J. P. Allen '11 kept the tempo of the show as a Ronald Liebowitz spin-off, appearing periodically to update the audience on the progress of a mentally-disabling flu in "Pandemic: Parts 1 - 4," a collaborative project by Judith Dry '09 and Adam Levine '09. After insisting that everything would be fine and encouraging students to keep up with their studies despite the absurd circumstances, Allen's composure cracks under his own censorship and signs off with, "Your friendly neighborhood president here, telling you all to run for the hills!" Yet compared to the chilling quality of his earlier optimistic denial, this acknowledgment was just plain funny. Mitton added a personal touch by creating, transitions in which actors fixed the audience with terrifyingly robotic smiles while they moved scenery and got into costume.

"It was my hope that this would help insert a spine into the proceedings, rather than have it feel like a simple variety show," Mitton said.

His goal was achieved - the transitions not only accentuated the most poignant moment of each scene, they also stood out as some of the most haunting moments, not least for the scrutiny under which they placed the audience.

"Severed Headshots" was a real trust fall for many involved. Although the scripts were available to the actors early on, many playwrights continued to revise, inspired by the actors and the director.

"Once you sat in on a rehearsal, you couldn't help but want to go home and change it," said Foss, author of "Silent Treatment." "It completely changes how we write."

From the very beginning, the playwrights were interacting with the actors, going through exercises with them and collecting ideas. Discussions focused on the fears of the actors themselves, a connection that made the scenes all the more intimate and encouraged every actor's natural flair. As an ensemble, the cast moved and focused as a pulsing, breathing unit, reflecting their director's efforts "to teach a young ensemble how to stick together, care about one another, actively listen onstage and just learn about their habits and rise to the next level of their craft." In so doing he's given theater majors perhaps the biggest scare of all - competition for the next season.