Witness Theater’s I-Show, one of the University’s most exciting theater performances for audiences and theater practitioners alike, occurred at the Bloomberg Student Center’s theater from Feb. 6 to Feb. 8. The performances saw four one-act plays that were entirely written, produced, directed, acted and turned into reality through all other necessary countless jobs by Hopkins students themselves.
That’s All We Get, written by Jenna Xue and directed by Jenna Xue and Cecile Wang
The night started off with a confused, blabbering Ash (Jewels Seeger) being woken up by a mysterious car attendant and the sound of a train headed to nowhere. In the 20 minutes that follow, Ash quickly forms a deep connection with Eternity Express’ resident veteran, Sky (Jade Clarke), and Ash begins to realize that there is more to Sky’s story than they initially let on. Eventually, Sky makes the bold decision to once again jump back into the unknown of the afterlife, leaving behind both their cherished memories and lived trauma.
Even though there were times when plot exposition felt blunt or distracting, the script’s conceptual intricacy still shone through and left a lasting impression of a mature and developed confrontation with the afterlife. Driven by Seeger and Clarke’s beautifully dramatic performances and undeniable chemistry, the play doesn’t just present a new take on the afterlife, it drills it into your heart and seals the hole. That’s All We Get’s characters die twice — once when their memories from the material world involuntarily come to a stop and again when they must choose to disembark and leave behind their “emotional baggage” — and I won’t ever stop thinking about how cool that is.
Crossing Lines, written by Alexis Weiss and directed by Shaily Mistry
After a brief transition set to the poignant backtrack of The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young,” the lights came up and the audience was treated to the sight of a bumbling Alan (Maxwell Rho) greeting the ice-cold Greg (Vasilios Van de Berg) smoking a remarkably realistic cigarette prop (it had smoke and even glowed a gentle red!). Alan was trying desperately to close the sale of an allegedly murderous zebra, and despite Greg’s familiarity with the sale and acquisition of exotic animals, Alan’s incompetence still managed to throw Greg into a ridiculous situation unlike any he’s ever encountered before.
The wit and cleverness of the script’s comedy was matched only by the incredibly entertaining performances from both Rho and Van de Berg, and both of those factors made for an engrossing play. However, Alan’s exaggerated comedic incompetence did at times feel unbelievable and contribute to a strange, caricatural tone that sheared against Greg’s gritty, hardened nature. Nevertheless, Crossing Lines solidified itself both as a showcase of Weiss’ intelligent comedic style and a beautifully funny take on the Nicholas Cage-esque drama of underworld dealings.
Mutinous Ink, written by Jewels Seeger and directed by Jason Lafita
Even though both Crossing Lines and Mutinous Ink opened on a main character puffing on nicotine, Mutinous Ink chose to set its tone much more braggadociously: Cassandra Fan’s hilariously egotistical, incompetent Captain dangled a comically large cigar between his lips as he dictated a “sinfully ravishing” letter to his imaginary wife. This absurdity was consistent throughout the entire production, with Clarence (Yona Levine) and his dramatically eloquent sister Carlotta (Amaiya Santiago) beginning to plot a mutiny against the Captain, whose unwavering trust in Clarence is made even more inexplicable when it is revealed that the Captain is the reason the siblings are orphans. Clarence’s commitment to the bit is brought into question after he is deemed next in line to inherit command of the SS Tribulation by the Captain in a terribly misplaced show of loyalty. However, he eventually reverts during the final fight scene, where Carlotta enacts revenge on their parents’ killer.
Throughout its entire runtime, Mutinous Ink managed to be a crushingly hilarious display of Seeger’s mastery of the absurd. From the noticeable “freak-ification” of Carlotta’s impersonation of the Captain’s fake wife to the butt-clenching tension as the Captain backs Clarence down into his desk and leans in, the play never fails to throw itself all the way overboard and bring the audience crying-laughing with it. Most impressively, the captain’s hat was misplaced in the final scuffle, but Santiago and Levine didn’t miss a beat before turning the victorious conclusion into the funniest scene of the play.
Round Trip to Eden, written by Adrianne Lin and directed by Ryan Garza
Content warning: discussions of violence and abuse.
After two comedies softening my mental guard, a psychological thriller was a welcome, albeit shudder-inducing, surprise. Round Trip to Eden depicted the talkative Alcyone (Rebecca Anh) haranguing a visibly exhausted unnamed traveler (Alexis Weiss) on a train car that neither of them knew the destination of. As the picture of Alcyone’s abusive and authoritarian “Mother” and her vivid matricidal fantasies of liberation took shape, the duo began to discover that they shared much in common, and the true nature of Alcyone and the traveler’s relationship began to unravel.
As with many psychological thrillers, the plot’s twists and turns served as some of the most emotionally poignant points of the production. Even after the “cutting” of the puppet strings that tied her down, Weiss’s character still found herself with new strings that pulled at her chest and tore her eyelids open, forcing her to confront her own deteriorating mental state.
Everything in the play, from the psychedelic lighting design to the detailed costuming, came together into a weighty and cohesive whole. Notably, Anh’s robotic performance was masterfully unnerving and served as the perfect foil to Weiss’ intense and erratic characterization. Despite its exploration of the underlying themes of regret, guilt, abuse and flight feeling a little thin at times, Round Trip to Eden still made for a profoundly thrilling and intriguing psychological play.
In conclusion...
Despite encountering last-minute venue difficulties (with the initial Arellano Theater being rendered unusable by a recent Levering Hall roofing issue), Witness Theater’s I-Show was, by all accounts, an incredibly strong set of student performances. Whether you’re searching for a foray into theater practitioning or just looking for things to do over the weekend, Witness Theater is a great excuse to go out and appreciate the incalculable efforts of fellow Hopkins students.
