There are two sides in the show. One believes we should make people use Thinking Caps less because then it will hurt people less. That person is named Kim Ayers (Jaclyn Jensen) and Charles agrees with her. I think that is a good idea; she doesn't want to take them away, just to make them hurt people less. But she isn't really a good guy because she is trying to warn people about the dangers but she is doing it in a scary way and it hurts you because they are trying to relive the instances where people have been killed while using these headsets. There is also another side where there is this man named David Scrab (Casey Kells) who thinks they should be able to use them whenever they want because then he will make more money. The thing that is good about his point of view is that he enables people to talk to each other like they are really there even if they're not, which I think is a great thing. But then he should just put more research into it before just putting it out there before anyone has done research to see if it is harmful. Maggie works for him as a designer and builder and that is good for her because she gets to do what she loves. She is very creative. But then she finds out all the terrible things that David Scrab is doing. I think that technology is a good thing and I am glad we have it, but I don't think we should use it too much or bad things could happen to the world and to you.
I liked the scene where Charles and Maggie first got together on the headnet. I think they seemed like two amazing, sweet, talented people who fall in love. And if it weren't for the headnet they probably wouldn't have gotten to know and love each other. They worked together, but it was different when they could be alone on the headnet and just talk to each other about everything. They are able to show each other the most important parts of their lives, which is probably something they wanted to show each other but then never could at work because they have to be working. But then the headnet also destroyed their lives. I think that it was good to have the love scene at the beginning because it shows how this entire thing began and you want them to get together and once they do you just feel happy. Then when things start to go wrong you feel even sadder.
I really liked the scene with the baby Emma (Ellen DeSitter). Maggie and Charles had a baby that you are introduced to pretty early, but then you get to see what she might look like when she is older but she still has a baby's mind in this scene. So she looks older but she still has a baby's mind and they have this precious daddy-daughter moment which is where he tells her all about Superman and how he's not swimming in the sky, he is flying. It showed that the dad was a really big nerd (and I mean that well because I am nerd) and he wanted his daughter to be that way as well. I liked this scene because it was really funny how she would smile at whatever he said, which is something a bunch of babies do. At first, I thought it was just a bad portrayal of children, because I was like, kids would know all about words and talking and flying. But then the thing is she still has a baby's mind and her avatar looks like what she'll look like when she looks older, but she's not older. So that explains why she is acting like kind of an idiot--because she's just like four months old! Then I thought that that was pretty cool. I would like to see what I will look like when I'm older!
People who would like this show are people who like virtual reality, scifi, and Superman. I think people should definitely go see this show. I think it is an amazing low-budget production and I really want you to go see it. I had a lot of fun.
Photos: Chris Owens
Ondin was about this boy whose legs turned into a fish tail when he fell into the water. Then he met this girl named Melusine who had loved by the water for many years. I thought it was cool that they changed Ondine to Ondin, so that you knew even boys could be mer-people. They (Sabrina Baran, Gabrielle Garant, and Maryse Poulin) tell the story with puppets and music. I really liked at the beginning how there was a dress that turned into the sea. It started moving and moved up and just stayed there and she stepped out of it. I loved the sting ray puppet. I thought it was so awesome and beautiful. And Ondin had a fish who became his friend over the course of the show. It kind of reminded me of the Ariel story, only I think this was better. You knew they were becoming friends because he eventually got to pet the fish and it followed him around. There was a lot of very cool music in this and they also made some instruments part of the show. There was a rain-making disc that made the sound of the ocean but was also used as a raft and then the moon. It is about children's friendship and finding your right place in the world.
I really loved the show The Secret Life of Suitcases. It was funny, clever, and adorable. The main character's name was Larry (Ailie Cohen); he was basically a really hard-working businessman. But he'd never done anything exciting. So there were little puffballs inside of suitcases called quarks (Samuel Jameson & Cohen), who decided to bring him on this big adventure. I thought the quarks were absolutely adorable. They kind of reminded me of muppets. And the suitcase arrives at his work and he decides to open it and it takes him on this big adventure. He goes onto an island and then goes to space. The puppeteers had these shirts on that made them look like the background for the puppets--the backgrounds were like the ocean, an island, and outer space. I thought that was really cool. There was also a tiny puppet of a shark fin that I thought that was really funny, because you saw the guy (Jameson) just pulling it along across his shirt. One of my favorite moments was at the very end when Larry got so excited that he was going to eat spaghetti on the beach because he might not be doing something that was super adventurous but he still got to go and have fun with his friends. I just loved how he talked when he said "I'm going to eat spaghetti! On the beach!" and it came from the back of his throat. And at the end it kind of went higher--and it was hilarious. All their set pieces were made out of suitcases, and I thought that was really cool. Like there was a door that was also a suitcase. There was also a little suitcase person with little suitcase feet that I thought was adorable. The show taught a lesson on how even the little things are adventures, and I thought that was a really good lesson to teach. It also taught us about how you should enjoy adventures too, even if they are scary. And also to go through with the adventures even if you have work stuff; you should still make time for fun.
People who would like these shows are people who like mer-people, walking suitcases, and eating spaghetti on the beach. I know these shows tour, so if you live anywhere near where they are going, go see them! They are both awesome!
Photos: Michel Pinault and Anne Binckebanck
Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Jersey Boys. The book was by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The music was by Bob Gaudio, who was an actual original Four Seasons' member. And then Bob Crewe did the lyrics. It was about The Four Seasons who were big in the Sixties--they were like One Direction. This show is about how they got together and fell apart. It was a sad but funny play because it had some sad moments but it was also pretty funny. It is about friendship, betrayal, and music.
I thought it was cool how each of the band members--Bob Gaudio (Drew Seeley), Frankie Valli (Hayden Milanes), Nick Massi (Keith Hines), and Tommy DeVito (Matthew Dailey)--got to narrate one season of the story. I liked that because then you got to hear every person in the group's perspective. My favorite section, the most exciting part, was when Bob was narrating. I loved how when they turned their back to raise their hands and sing to the invisible audience it was like on the poster and you had that little recognition like, "Ohhhh." I liked when they were singing backup for other singers and they all had this one moment they all had the same idea--to have Bob Crewe (Barry Anderson) finally let them record--and they weren't fighting, but the next scene they were fighting again. Because what are bands for if not for fighting?! I really loved the character of Bob Crewe; I thought he was really funny because he was so overdramatic. He seemed really comfortable around everybody and his notes to the band were hilarious, like when he said, "It's a metaphor for women who twist you around their little finger" and he wiggled around his finger." I think Bob Gaudio seemed liked the least insane and depressed one. I liked how he always looked at the sunny side of things even if things weren't going as well as they'd like them to. They had found him because he had written a song about short shorts when he was a teenager. The show shows his development over time with songwriting because his songs got better and better over time!
Frankie was basically the lead singer. But even though he was the lead singer he was very depressed because a lot of bad things happened to him. Like his wife left him, he was abducted at age 16 by a crook who made him begin a band, and the third bad thing is that his daughter Francine (Leslie Rochette) had a drug overdose and died. I really wish they had had a song together because she had a lovely voice. His voice was also very nice so, if they put those two together. it would be extra good. His voice could go very high in falsetto and the actor playing the role did an amazing job making the falsetto really pleasant to hear. Frankie had two important relationships with women in the show, with Mary (Marlana Dunn) who he married and had kids with and with Lorraine (Jaycie Dotin) who was his girlfriend for a while, but then they broke up for the same reason he and Mary broke up which was because he was on tour too much and they never saw him. Mary was very straightforward and kind of reminded me of my mom, except less nice. Lorraine was an interesting character to me because she was a reporter; she had a job and seemed very smart. I think Frankie should have tried harder to keep both of his women--not by quitting the band, because he was very talented, but by inventing Skype or something so that he could better communicate with them when he was on the road.
I really like Nick Massi's season because he was one of the funnier ones because he was so serious. He was always deadpan about everything. Like one of my favorite parts was when he was just standing there silently while Bob and Frankie were talking and in the middle of the scene he just turned to the audience and said "I just realized something. I don't want to be in the band anymore." That was so funny because it was just in the middle of the scene and you wouldn't think that was what he was going to say, but then he did and it was just hilarious. I also really liked when he was talking to everyone about Tommy and roommating with him for ten years and he said, "He uses up all the towels!" I loved that that was his biggest problem even though Tommy had been a crook and stole a lot of stuff, also while they were roommating.
People who would like this show are people who like deadpan bass players, overdramatic producers, awesome music, and short shorts. I had a lot of fun at this show. It was crazy, awesome, and I enjoyed the story of it a lot.
Photos: Jeremy Daniel
Shackleton had a lot of interviews with the men to see if they would be good to go on the mission. And he asked them really strange questions like "How do you sleep?" He asks that sort of stuff to see if they will be ready for harsh conditions and if they'll be fun to be around. He doesn't think they all have to be tough. He thinks they have to be nice people but still know what they are doing and be willing to work. I thought that Vincent's (Stephen Walker) interview was very funny because he was just so deadpan and serious and was like, "I sleep in a bed." There was also another interview with a man named Worsley (Kevin Theis) who had had a dream about how he was on a boat and was steering a boat through a bunch of ice. And the next morning he saw the advertisement. I was very happy they kept that part, which is true, in the play. And Worsley also did this really funny thing once he got the job where he would ram the boat into the ice and then every time he did that he would go "Wooo!" There is also a man named Orde-Lees (Joseph Stearns) who was chased by a seal later. I thought that was very funny how he ran past and Shackleton was like, "You're a very fast runner." He was very refined when he came in for the interview and was like, my name is from this place. Shackleton wants him because he can be a cheering-up person when he plays his banjo, but he is also a walking encyclopedia which is a good thing to have on a expedition.
There is a guy named McNeish (Steve Herson) who really liked this cat who they named Mrs. McNeish. He did kind of remind me of a cat because cats can be kind of solitary and all-business. But then you also get to see his heart when he is with the cat. The dogs and the cat play a very big role in the story because they are one of the ways all the men stay sane. But they are also like family to them. So when they have to kill the cat and the dogs they are all so miserable and sad and the audience is so miserable and sad. All the dog shooting happens behind a shadow screen and there is a guy who is talking to each of the dogs before they die. They go through all their names as kind of like a memorial to them. I thought that was very very sad, but then you also knew that was what had to be done if they wanted everyone else to survive. You feel like you don't hate the people who shoot the dogs because you know it is not their fault.
There is a stowaway named Blackborrow (Gage Wallace) who they find in one of the boxes. When he pops out Shackleton asks him the same questions as he does in the interviews, but he also says, "You know you'll be the first to be eaten." And Blackborrow is like, "Yeah, I don't really care." And Shackleton is like, "You're on board!" He thought he would be good because he had no fear and has some truth-detecting in him and that made him a good candidate for this expedition. And it also had to do with how funny he was. He was one of my favorite characters because he was very funny and he was kind of like the new guy. No one liked him at first but they did when they got to know him. This character is in the play as comic relief but he also has some very touching and sad things happen to him. I think the audience really loves him because he is so energetic and optimistic and he thinks he can get away from his problems if he goes on this exploration, but then he has new problems but also gets an adventure. The audience identifies with him too because he is more of a normal man. He is not a sailor or a photographer or an explorer. One of the funniest characters is McIlroy (Nicholas Bailey). He thought that he was the most handsome man on earth and had Hurley (Neal Starbird) take all these pictures of him. Whenever Hurley was taking a picture of him, McIlroy would pose very powerfully. He was like, "I should show everyone this because I look so handsome and adventurous!"
I liked how the actors used their bodies and the set (designed by Ira Amyx and Merje Veski) to show scary moments that you thought they couldn't really do on a small stage. I thought that it was really awesome when Crean (Matthew Isler) and Shackleton and Worsley all built a sled out of their luggage. Then they slid down the hill and it was super awesome. I kind of wanted to do that too, but it was probably very dangerous in real life. They also had these put-together-your-own lifeboats. It was cool because they had to rebuild everything and you could see that happen. The journey in the lifeboats took so long and everyone was squished together in the three different lifeboats with paddles and lanterns. It did seem like they were out in the open water!
People who would like this show are people who like adventure, stowaways, and sleds made out of luggage. I think that people should definitely definitely go see this show. I thought it was a great, suspenseful, and bittersweet show. It is a crazy and awesome experience and you are on the edge of your seat the entire time.
Photos: Jackie Jasperson
I thought that it was super awesome how they based the characters on a kind of music or a specific rockstar. I thought that that was very cool. I thought the Cheshire Cat (Andrew Mueller) looked a lot like David Bowie. I could tell because he had a very David-Bowie hairstyle and David-Bowie outfit, like basically a leather silver tiger outfit (costumes by Mara Blumenfeld). I loved the way the Cheshire Cat moved. It was kind of like how David Bowie moved in his music videos--kind of like gliding. I also really liked the bunny Elton John, the White Rabbit (Matt Deitchman). I really liked his glasses and his hat and how he would hop around the stage and Alice would try to get a word in but then she couldn't because he had already hopped off stage. Then there were ones I thought could be inspired by different rock stars, but I wasn't positive, so these are just guesses. The Mad Hatter (Matthew Yee) and March Hare (Adam Michaels) seemed to be heavy-metal inspired and mixing that with the normal Mad Hatter costume seemed very steampunk. I also felt like the Queen of Hearts (Molly Callinan) was inspired by Lady Gaga though her outfit was slightly less crazy. Her song was the thing I found most Lady-Gaga inspired. It made you want to get up and dance and I thought her singing was super awesome.
The song "Red, Red Rose" was very catchy and I think it made a very good point that you shouldn't just be something that you are not. Bianca (Regina Leslie) and Felicite (Lillian Castillo) are both white roses who have been dyed red by Four (Jed Feder) and Seven (Yee). And they sing a song about how Alice will never be a red rose but they got to be a red rose. I think it is about not being yourself when you should be. Alice is saying I will not be a red red rose. I am just an Alice and I don't really care. I think this scene combined two different parts of the books: the part where all the flowers come alive and start plucking Alice's "petals" which are not real petals (they are her skirt) and the part where there are white roses painted red in the Queen's garden. I thought that was cool that, by putting together the meanness of the first flowers and the flowers pretending to be what they're not, they made a really awesome scene that showed you how bullies don't want to be like themselves. They want to be something they are not.
I loved the song "Lazy Day." I felt like it was like a cross between Avril Lavigne and Adele. I found that really awesome because it was just really catchy and I actually want to learn how to sing that song. I thought Alice's voice was very pretty. The song is about having nothing happen to you and how you want something great to happen to you and about boredom. Sometimes I have that same kind of feeling of wanting something awesome and cool to happen. And things awesome and cool happen to me a lot, so sometimes when nothing is happening I don't feel amazing. Alice sings it with her cat, Dinah (Mueller). Dinah is really funny and when Alice dreams Dinah becomes the Cheshire Cat which tells you that anything can happen when you are dreaming. I think that is also a good thing to do when you are bored--just let your imagination take over.
People who would like this show are people who like David-Bowie cats, rock and roll music, and red red roses. I thought the show was very enjoyable. I think it makes a lot of good points and I liked the songs a lot.
Photos: Charles Osgood
Elinor is kind of like what is holding the story together. She is the calm and collected one and she doesn't let anything hurt her personally. There is this very sad song about how Elinor can't even tell her sister her feelings. It is called "Not Even You." I think that that really shows her personality--that she doesn't share her feeling, not even with her closest friend. I don't think that is a good idea. You should be able to tell your closest friend everything about you, especially if you are related to her! The next song, "The Visit," was more funny. It was about Edward coming back to come and say hi to Elinor and finding that this woman that he had promised to marry named Lucy (Emily Berman) was there and he didn't really want to have the stress of meeting with two women, one he used to be in love with and one that he was in love with right now. I think that was funny because he came in and he was very surprised. The look on his face was just hilarious and it made me laugh very hard. The song was like both of the women singing "Edward!" over and over and him just being like "Nope! Nope! Not talking to you guys!" I think that Edward was very funny because of the faces he made and he was just very hilarious.
I think that I am a lot like Marianne, only slightly less dippy. If I met Willoughby and didn't know he was a cad, I would totally fall in love with him. I am also a drama queen and a goofball. She is a goofball when she is talking about Willoughby and she says, "Willoughby!" and sighs, which is kind of like me. She is a drama queen when she has to give up her featherbed. I liked that moment a lot when she said, "Can I bring my featherbed?" and it was all she cared about. I found it very funny that that was all she really cared about. Then also when she was talking with Willoughby she was reciting a poem and then Willoughby finished the poem with her, I found that so cheesy and I found it so humorous because, if you know he is a cad, you are like, "He's too good to be true and too bad to be true!" He is too good to be true because he isn't true. Marianne sang this song about how she was no longer the girl that he would push on the swing, and I found that a very sad song, and I felt super sorry for her. The song was so sad and touching because you see how much he hurt her. She is remembering when he pushed her on the swing and then she is also thinking about this painting that was very popular at that time with a woman in a fancy dress with a man pushing her on a swing. That shows you she thinks of herself as art, and that means that she thinks of herself as one of a kind and that he missed out. But she also feels like she missed out on Willoughby, but that is not true!
Marianne also has a man who is actually not a cad!!! Yay! Colonel Brandon (Sean Allan Krill) is really in love with her and I think that he seems like a better match for her than Willoughby because he will actually stay true to her. I found that very happy that there was someone who loved her who was not just loving her so that he could break her heart and run away with another woman. I think that the song "Wrong Side of Five & Thirty" was very funny because I don't think he was the wrong side. He's not even that old. He's just thirty-six instead of thirty-four. Mrs. Jennings (Paula Scrofano) said he was on the wrong side of five and thirty so don't get interested in Marianne. She must have felt dumb later! The song is kind of sad, though, because he is saying, "She'll never love me. I'm too old." I liked how funny but sad it was; it was bittersweet.
People who would like this show are people who like love triangles, poetry-reading cads, and featherbeds. I think people should definitely go see this show. I had a lot of fun and found it very funny, clever, and touching.
Photos: Liz Lauren
Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called The Impossible Adventures of Supernova Jones. It was written by Aaron Senser and it was directed by Emelia Zuckerman. It was about this guy named Supernova Jones (Brendan Mulhern) who was a space explorer. He had a robot named S.A.M. (Tom Murphy) and he worked with a Space Cowboy named Hash (Evan Henderson). And they were fighting against the sons of Cain who were a scary alien race who were like clones, kind of. And they were all played by the same guy (Justin Martin Fill). And Supernova Jones has to leave his wife Evelyn (Jill Matel) behind because the world has been "destroyed" and he has been employed by the Commander (Gary Smiley) to find the center of the universe. But the entire time he is keeping a secret from himself. This play is about family, love, and imagination, and I enjoyed it a lot.
My theory about the Sons of Cain is that they all wanted to look like their leader, so they all made themselves look the same. The Sons of Cain also seemed to be very good fighters (fight direction by Henderson). The fights were super crazy! I loved how intimate they actually seemed and how you could hear them smack down on the ground. I was like, "Noooo!" They were so crazy good. There was a chess scene between Supernova Jones and the last of the Sons of Cain. (Were there just men in the Sons of Cain? If so, they weren't a very productive race. No wonder they died out so quickly!) In the scene, Supernova Jones was getting beat at chess, until the cleverest thing happened where the Son of Cain beat him and Jones said, "No, you didn't." And that is where the clever part comes in. The clever part is...you have to see the show! You don't expect a chess game to be the climax in a space movie. You expect it to be a laser battle or something like that. So it is completely different than you think it would be. I thought it was cool.
The robot is like the best friend of Supernova Jones and you find out later that he is even more than a friend. I liked how cute he was. He was kind of like a little kid. And I loved S.A.M.'s signature drink. It was a cup of oil, which I found so hilarious. Supernova Jones' drink was something like an intergalactic on the rocks and I thought that was really funny too. The robot was basically like his best friend and they did everything together. That made me feel like the robot was an actual person. One of my favorite parts was when he was talking on facetime basically and saying, "Nope. You can't speak to him because he's asleep" and the villain didn't believe him. So then he was just like, "He's asleep" and would gesture toward Jones in a really impatient way like, "Duh. He's asleep." I liked that the robot makes you think this is going to be a goofy space adventure, but then it ends up that character is more bittersweet when you find out what the real story is.
Evelyn was the wife of Supernova Jones and she was on “Mars.” Supernova Jones has taken her there because it is the only place people can live now that the Earth has been destroyed. And he talks to her on facetime and tells her to put on the glasses and you’ll be here with me as a hologram. And she does and she spins out in this beautiful turquoise see-through plastic outfit (costumes by Delena Bradley). I thought it looked really awesome. I was like, “Wow! She looks really cool in that.” Before she was just a video, but suddenly she becomes an actual person. It was cool how much of the show used videos (by Dan Haberkorn) and how well they timed it so it didn’t look weird. They also had an intro like an old tv show that was on a screen and that was really cool. It looked like an old-fashioned tv show like Star Trek.
People who would like this show are people who like Star Trek, cups of oil, and chess. I think that people should definitely go see this show. I thought it was a really fun experience.
Photos: Chris Zoubris
