Alex Neville and Jack Berger starred in the second of two plays written by Oleg Shik at the showcase.

Witness showcase suffers slow start but ends strong

By: Neil Manimala

Posted: 10/9/08

Witness Theater is known for having minimalist sets with few props or materials. However, after this weekend's Fall Showcase, the student theater group may soon also become known for producing plays with little plot and a lack of passion from its actors. The one-hour show consisted of four student-written and directed plays that, as a whole, largely failed to impress, causing an aftertaste of pure disappointment.

In a World of Sexual Insecurity was written and directed by Oleg Shik and starred Kevin (senior Bill Fuller), Haley (junior Claire Kenney) and Cleveland (senior Rajiv Mallipudi). The first few minutes of the play seemed promising; There was clever use of lighting to conceal Kevin's penis as he tried to maintain an erection for new girlfriend Haley.

Unfortunately, the whole play was about Kevin's problem getting it up and failing to be intimate with Haley. The play tried too hard to be something all modern couples can relate to with a supposed everyman-like Kevin and references to Viagra, but it soon became lost in pseudo-artistic obscurity. It was almost as if the play itself suffered from erectile dysfunction.

While the story seemed like a good idea on the surface, it tended to use sex for shock value - the explicit terminology and kinky costumes seemed to add nothing significant to the performance. It slugged along pointlessly and was not helped by Fuller's poor acting. He staggered his lines and expressions and forced the whimpers of a man who could not get it up. Kenney's performance as Haley-the-dominatrix seemed as adequate as her black leather costume, but it became just as lost as the play itself as her character became less relevant.

The only saving force was Mallipudi's excellent performance as Cleveland, the male stripper hired by Haley to have sex with her. His impassioned dance and convincing cries were the only relief from the blatant monotony of the show. It was not, however, a high enough dosage to get the play up.

The second play was Past Lives, written by junior Eric Levitz, directed by sophomore Jeremy Bremer and starring Denton (Levitz) and Jen (sophomore Yagmur Müftüoglu). While the previous play actually made some initial effort at arousal and having a coherent message, Lives simply severed its member with a knife and made no attempt whatsoever.

The play progressed from a man discussing his violent dreams to taking off his shirt to beating his significant other after a few swigs of alcohol. It superficially contemplated that perhaps people are guilty for sins they committed in past lives and marginally explored the concept of karma, but it ultimately drowned in inconsequence. The play was not saved by Levitz's persuasive acting as an inherently deranged man who thinks about shredding puppies in a wood chipper. The writer apparently mistook his cryptic plot for thought-provoking material.

Lives employed sophomore Andrew Sender's sound board and Dayna Gordon's light board to make weird transitions between flashbacks with prerecorded lines being played while the lights dimmed. The technical directors tried too hard to make the play seem like a freaky film, but the effects only contributed more to stagnation in the pretentious plot.

The showcase improved with Shik's Spin, directed by recent grad Tony Chiarito and sophomore Amy Morgan and starring Arnie Butterfield (junior Kempton Baldridge), Lachewitz (junior Alex Neville) and John P. Rancher (Jack Berger). The script of Spin was slow, though. Initially, it seemed like it only consisted of Lachewitz's rambling to his mentally challenged assistant, Arnie, about the political scandals of Carter-era Georgia.

Baldridge's Arnie had some barely cute antics with a vending machine and a newspaper puzzle that could be considered borderline-offensive. Still, Baldridge saved the first part of the play with hilarious facial expressions, despite his stale delivery at times. Neville as Lachewitz, on the other hand, seemed to be passionlessly reading his lines throughout the entire play.

The second part of the play, however, was dominated by Berger's superb performance as Rancher. He proceeds with an accent that is not overdone and the cowboy hat and boots of a convincing Southerner as he bursts onto the scene as an opportunistic politician trying to spin a sex scandal. It was only now that it became clear the play was about campaign spinsters.

When Rancher decides to fire Lachewitz for not doing enough to spin a certain scandal, the latter tries to double cross the politician by recording Rancher's insult against retarded people like Arnie. As Lachewitz persists with his irritating rambling, Rancher briskly walks to the tape recorder and destroys the cassette with a loud cowboy stomp. It was at this point that the show became somewhat enjoyable.

The final play of the evening, On the Fall of the Sandwich Board and the Rise of Intangible Cities, has a title that might suggest that, like most of the other plays of the showcase, it was a lost cause. Indeed, as an allegory, it almost became lost in its attempt at becoming high art.

Surprisingly, however, the final play was the best of all four. Written and directed by Levitz and starring Bob (senior Mike Wills), Harriet (junior Emily Daly), Son (junior David Santare), and Girlfriend (freshman Emily Sucher), it carried on crisply with a clear point in mind and excellent execution that evoked a fulfilling emotional response without being too artsy or obscure.

The well-portrayed Bob and Harriet enter as a confused couple on a blind date in a restaurant. After a few minutes, they decide to get married and order a marriage from the waitress as if it were just a bottle of wine or basket of bread.

She soon returns with rope to tie the flabbergasted couple to their table. They later order a baby from the waitress, and, after she provides them with the bundled package, they return it to give it some years to grow up, as if it were just a piece of chicken that needed to be cooked a few more minutes.

Bob and Harriet fail to remember the name of their offspring, however, and he is simply called Son. In Santare's convincing performance as an emo teen, Son reflects on his somewhat meaningless entry into the world and decides to leave his parents' table to dine with his suicidal girlfriend, named Girlfriend. With the next generation in the background popping pills at the other table, Bob and Harriet are at a loss of things to talk about; They finally decide to die and order death from the waitress, who brings back a rope with which the couple can hang themselves.

The play is an excellent reflection of the mechanistic progression through life to which most people submit; They fail to realize the difference between simply existing in boring linearity and sincerely living life to one's fullest potential. It was in this play that the minimalist setup that characterizes Witness - the two tables, few chairs and the plain props of rope, pills and a wine bottle - underscores the simple and universally applicable message of the play. Bob and Harriet were true everymen.

Unfortunately, the Witness Theater fall showcase failed to live to its fullest potential and tragically limped along from an upsetting beginning to a satisfying finale.