2008 Woodie Awards
'Strange, morbid' student productions
Sheryl McCabe
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: Arts and Leisure
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The themes of both plays dealt with accepting oneself and the fear of death. When Schlossberg wrote these plays, she was investigating the idea of mortality from the perspective of a young person. Both protagonists were in their 20s as they were dying in these plays.
"The Secrets of Aiden Brooks," had a split stage-one with Cal (Patrick Horn '11) and his girlfriend, Anna (Emily Weitzel '08), the other with Aiden Brooks (Eddie Connor '08) and a mimed video camera.
As Aiden speaks to the camera leaving his dying memories on tape, his brother Cal is arguing with his girlfriend at least six or seven years after Aiden's death. Aiden goes through a stream of consciousness, coming to terms with himself and his death, while Cal still has not accepted the death of his brother and thus creates an emotional gap between him and Anna.
The simultaneous actions make the play much more intriguing and inventive as the audience tries to figure out how the two stories could possibly have anything to do with each other.
Although Connor's acting was realistically awkward and amusing, his constant need to stand up and pace while filming a video of his brother seemed out of place and distracting. While shooting a video diary, would anyone walk out of the camera's line of sight?
However, since Aiden's character was extremely awkward, this odd behavior is understandable. Connor had the hardest character of the two plays. He was alone and had a very long monologue. Still, he was able to make it interesting and he added depth to the play.
Horn and Weitzel had good stage chemistry. Lines were quick to be spouted and the audience was convinced that the characters were having actual conversations.
The second play, "Merrily Merrily Merrily," explored the same ideas of death and self-acceptance through the imagination of Cade (Olivia Harris '10).
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