This past Friday and Saturday, the JHU Barnstormers continued the tradition of hosting Freshmen One Acts to showcase the new talent in the class of 2016.
A wide cast of assorted talents kept the audience in Arellano Theater captivated through five one-act plays, performed entirely by freshmen.
The set was not particularly impressive, as the stage only contained a few pieces of furniture. But as the full performance consisted of multiple stories that require separate and mobile props, this setup made sense.
The lack of complicated technical elements allowed the actors’ presence to shine unobstructed.
By the end of the night, it was clear that they had done just that.
The evening started off with a diner’s menu scribbled on a whiteboard, listing off appealing dishes such as deep fried gizzards and pickled pigs’ feet.
Al (freshman Utkarsh Rajawat) successfully creeped out the audience within the first five seconds as he aggressively hit on the waitress (freshman Diamond Pollard).
Meanwhile, Al’s friend Maxie had accidentally slipped into the metaphysical state of being in Philadelphia, even though the two of them were physically sitting in New York.
The personality of a location defined the character’s experience while stuck in that place.
Al explained this phenomenon to Maxie with the key phrase “everybody has to be someplace.”
Because Al was metaphysically in Los Angeles, he was nonchalant about getting fired and his girlfriend breaking up with him.
The characters traveled across great distances throughout the act, all the while staying within the confines of a diner.
After a swift scene change, the diner turned into an ambiguous setting where fairy tales converged.
It was not until halfway into the act that it was revealed the characters were in the waiting room for a therapist.
By that point, it was clear why the characters would need to see a therapist.
This one act play combined Juliet Capulet and Cinderella with a twist. Cinderella was played by a sarcastic but subdued freshman Helen Zhao.
Cheerful Kelly Seeger, who is also a freshman, balanced out her cynical counterpart. Their lives have diverted from where readers last left them on the pages.
Juliet has married Romeo, and was now Juliet Montague.
However, married bliss was not what she thought it to be.
Her husband lived up to his illustrious name and had problems staying faithful.
Cinderella’s prince also dabbled in extramarital activities, and he had a strange fetish towards evil stepmothers. He was disappointed upon discovering that Cinderella’s stepmother was actually a kind woman.
After divorcing her Prince Charming, Cinderella no longer had hope in finding true love.
She transferred her pessimism over to Juliet. As a result, Juliet delivered the following heart-rendering line to the audience: “If growing up means being cold and cynical, then maybe I should have killed myself when I had the chance.”
Even though this act was more parts tragic than humorous, the audience still chuckled frequently, sometimes even in response to morose lines.
The following one act, The Red Coat, started out being palpably awkward. John (freshman Matthew Moores), a socially inept man, desperately wanted to confess his feelings to his love interest Mary.
John waited for her outside a party and greeted her by rambling on about the beauty of the streetlights and the moon.
He then proceeded to blurt out that he loved her and forcefully kissed her.
Mary responded positively, even though it would have made more sense for her to be creeped out as most people might have been.
The scene switched the mood from humorous to serious when Mary brought up her red coat and its emotional meeting.
The coat was a symbol of her childhood and acted as a safety net.
This message was slightly misplaced in the comedic context of the act. John’s recognition of the importance of her red coat made her realize that she does, in fact, love him too.
The audience was left unsure of whether or not they should laugh or be brought to tears by Mary’s heartfelt memories of her childhood.
The most compelling act of the night was by far the strangest.
Anuja Sah and Ali Schleider play the roles of Fiddle and Faddle, respectively, two scantily clad escorts of the president who spent their days loafing around a pool underneath the White House.
Faddle prided herself in her patriotism; in her mind, she served the country by being the president’s mistress. She impressed with her seemingly endless reserve of energy, and she was completely unabashed with performing onstage in a bikini.
The act was set in the context of the Cold War. Things took a grim turn when Fiddle announced that she was pregnant with the president’s progeny. Thus began the playwright’s insertion of his opinion on the nuclear holocaust that was looming on the minds of everyone who lived during that time. It was definitely strange to see two women by the pool, awaiting the attention of the president, and consider the meaning of their existence within the greater context of patriotism and existentialism. The juxtaposition of these two seemingly unrelated subjects worked to create a powerful and thought provoking act.
The night ended on a light, humorous note with the story of Peter, Matthew Moores’ second appearance of the night. Peter was a psychic who had trouble dating because he could predict what people were going to say. Moores did not fail to charm the audience the second time around, with his perfect comedic timing and unique quirks.
Throughout the night, the underlying theme of mixing deep philosophical thought in with humor didn’t always hit on target. In most instances though, the two blended perfectly for an act that was both entertaining and thought provoking. The freshmen did an excellent job in their first performance for the Barnstormers, and Hopkins should expect to see much more from them in the years to come.
This article has been updated to note that the entire cast was made up of freshmen.
