2008 Woodie Awards
Wide Variety Displayed in Thesis Plays
Rosenbaum Shines as Stick and Suitcase; Herbert Attempts to Explain Earth to Aliens
Elizabeth Fields
Issue date: 4/21/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment
The Newport Flower Convention. The Suitcase. The Man Who Turned Into a Stick. The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. Excluding the fact that all their titles begin with "The," in most ways this year's collection of plays presented as senior theses could not have been more different.
Last weekend, Goucher theater majors Jane Rosenbaum '04 and Lauren Herbert '04 presented their senior theses in the Mildred Dunnock Theatre. Rosenbaum's self-directed project, the plays The Suitcase and The Man Who Turned Into a Stick by Kobo Abe, ran on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon; Herbert's thesis, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner, went up Saturday and Sunday night.
Outwardly, The Suitcase is a straightforward play. A Woman (Laura Camarata) invites an old friend, the Visitor (Miriam Ani), into her home to show her a strange Suitcase (Jane Rosenbaum) that makes frightening noises. The Woman's husband claims that his ancestors are inside the suitcase, but he has told her not to worry; it is none of her concern.
For the most part, the play focuses on whether or not the two will a) unlock the suitcase, b) use insecticide to spray what might be bugs in the suitcase, or c) discuss the Woman's relationship with her husband. The play ends, rather frustratingly, with the Woman leaving the suitcase locked, accompanied by several comments on her relationship with her husband.
What saves this play from becoming too repetitive or a vehicle for dialogue between Ani and Camarata are the lights and sound - and, of course, Rosenbaum as a moving, breathing suitcase. The lighting, designed by Darl A. Packard '04, was gelled in bright colors and changed along with the action: one color scheme for the conversation, one for the parts in which the suitcase began to make loud, unexpected noises. The sound itself during these parts is a mixture of words and just plain old strange noises.
The plot of The Man Who Turned Into a Stick is a little more complicated, and, in some ways, hardly more satisfying. A Hippie Boy (Adam Nicolai) and Girl (Alicia DeFrancesco) are startled when a stick falls to the ground near them. They surmise that a boy in a high window must have thrown it. The Stick (Jane Rosenbaum), however, is the new incarnation of a man who fell from that window and died. A Teacher and Student From Hell (Laura Camarata and Miriam Ani in very different roles) have been assigned the task of the Stick. In the midst of all this, the Stick interjects frequently with often-mournful observations about the meaning of death and the questioning of life.
Within the surreal nature of the play, Kobo Abe attempted to convey themes like alienation, isolation, and communication, according to Rosenbaum's note on the back of her program. The Man Who Turned Into a Stick certainly focuses on all of these, but it's often hard to tell whether Abe is trying to be funny or serious or both.
Rosenbaum's role in this play is meatier, although whether it's better to be a creepy suitcase or a philosophical stick is questionable. Regardless, she does get more speaking (and standing-up) time. The main drawback of playing the Stick is that she never actually interacts with any of the characters, only interrupts their action with her comments on life and death.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is a play of a different color. For one thing, there are no characters to interact with, because this is a one-woman show. Written for Lily Tomlin, and made famous through her performance, the story of The Search... follows a bag lady, Trudy, who tries to explain Earth to a group of aliens who have come for a visit. In between times, the single performer (in this case Herbert) morphs into a number of different characters whom the audience later learns are more or less connected in some way. Those dozen-some characters include Agnes, a 15-year-old punk performance artist; Agnes' grandparents, Lud and Marie; Chrissy, a recently unemployed workout enthusiast; Tina and Brandy, two prostitutes in New York; and Lyn, a divorced wife and mother who takes us through the women's movement and several years of her life.
Capturing the nuances of these characters proves no small feat, and Herbert handles it gracefully. The flashing lights that signal every character shift are a help, but for the most part, shifting from person to person is Herbert's responsibility. She's remarkably versatile, no matter what character she is playing, and the distinct physical posture she assumes for the role of Trudy rarely falters.
The design elements of this show also evoke a smile. Trudy tells the audience that she designed the color scheme for Howard Johnson's; no one else was using orange and aqua together. The gels in the majority of the lights are orange and aqua; credit Packard for that.
Herbert also chose not to produce a program. Instead, Post-It notes with facts about Tomlin's performance of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, as well as a history of Herbert's other work at Goucher, are stuck all over a statue wearing an umbrella hat, referencing comical images from the play. The statue resides in the Meyerhoff Arts Center lobby.
Although very different, all these plays reach beyond the literal scope of their work to ask questions and, sometimes, provide answers. Herbert and Rosenbaum should be exceptionally proud of their work (special praise to Herbert for keeping up what amounted to a running monologue for more than two hours).
The other senior thesis in the theater department this year was produced by Darl A. Packard, a theater and communication major, who directed The Newport Flower Convention in February. The Newport Flower Convention was written by Tim Paggi '04.
Last weekend, Goucher theater majors Jane Rosenbaum '04 and Lauren Herbert '04 presented their senior theses in the Mildred Dunnock Theatre. Rosenbaum's self-directed project, the plays The Suitcase and The Man Who Turned Into a Stick by Kobo Abe, ran on Thursday and Friday nights and Saturday afternoon; Herbert's thesis, The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner, went up Saturday and Sunday night.
Outwardly, The Suitcase is a straightforward play. A Woman (Laura Camarata) invites an old friend, the Visitor (Miriam Ani), into her home to show her a strange Suitcase (Jane Rosenbaum) that makes frightening noises. The Woman's husband claims that his ancestors are inside the suitcase, but he has told her not to worry; it is none of her concern.
For the most part, the play focuses on whether or not the two will a) unlock the suitcase, b) use insecticide to spray what might be bugs in the suitcase, or c) discuss the Woman's relationship with her husband. The play ends, rather frustratingly, with the Woman leaving the suitcase locked, accompanied by several comments on her relationship with her husband.
What saves this play from becoming too repetitive or a vehicle for dialogue between Ani and Camarata are the lights and sound - and, of course, Rosenbaum as a moving, breathing suitcase. The lighting, designed by Darl A. Packard '04, was gelled in bright colors and changed along with the action: one color scheme for the conversation, one for the parts in which the suitcase began to make loud, unexpected noises. The sound itself during these parts is a mixture of words and just plain old strange noises.
The plot of The Man Who Turned Into a Stick is a little more complicated, and, in some ways, hardly more satisfying. A Hippie Boy (Adam Nicolai) and Girl (Alicia DeFrancesco) are startled when a stick falls to the ground near them. They surmise that a boy in a high window must have thrown it. The Stick (Jane Rosenbaum), however, is the new incarnation of a man who fell from that window and died. A Teacher and Student From Hell (Laura Camarata and Miriam Ani in very different roles) have been assigned the task of the Stick. In the midst of all this, the Stick interjects frequently with often-mournful observations about the meaning of death and the questioning of life.
Within the surreal nature of the play, Kobo Abe attempted to convey themes like alienation, isolation, and communication, according to Rosenbaum's note on the back of her program. The Man Who Turned Into a Stick certainly focuses on all of these, but it's often hard to tell whether Abe is trying to be funny or serious or both.
Rosenbaum's role in this play is meatier, although whether it's better to be a creepy suitcase or a philosophical stick is questionable. Regardless, she does get more speaking (and standing-up) time. The main drawback of playing the Stick is that she never actually interacts with any of the characters, only interrupts their action with her comments on life and death.
The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe is a play of a different color. For one thing, there are no characters to interact with, because this is a one-woman show. Written for Lily Tomlin, and made famous through her performance, the story of The Search... follows a bag lady, Trudy, who tries to explain Earth to a group of aliens who have come for a visit. In between times, the single performer (in this case Herbert) morphs into a number of different characters whom the audience later learns are more or less connected in some way. Those dozen-some characters include Agnes, a 15-year-old punk performance artist; Agnes' grandparents, Lud and Marie; Chrissy, a recently unemployed workout enthusiast; Tina and Brandy, two prostitutes in New York; and Lyn, a divorced wife and mother who takes us through the women's movement and several years of her life.
Capturing the nuances of these characters proves no small feat, and Herbert handles it gracefully. The flashing lights that signal every character shift are a help, but for the most part, shifting from person to person is Herbert's responsibility. She's remarkably versatile, no matter what character she is playing, and the distinct physical posture she assumes for the role of Trudy rarely falters.
The design elements of this show also evoke a smile. Trudy tells the audience that she designed the color scheme for Howard Johnson's; no one else was using orange and aqua together. The gels in the majority of the lights are orange and aqua; credit Packard for that.
Herbert also chose not to produce a program. Instead, Post-It notes with facts about Tomlin's performance of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, as well as a history of Herbert's other work at Goucher, are stuck all over a statue wearing an umbrella hat, referencing comical images from the play. The statue resides in the Meyerhoff Arts Center lobby.
Although very different, all these plays reach beyond the literal scope of their work to ask questions and, sometimes, provide answers. Herbert and Rosenbaum should be exceptionally proud of their work (special praise to Herbert for keeping up what amounted to a running monologue for more than two hours).
The other senior thesis in the theater department this year was produced by Darl A. Packard, a theater and communication major, who directed The Newport Flower Convention in February. The Newport Flower Convention was written by Tim Paggi '04.
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