JHUT Play Festival impresses with original students' work
Issue date: 3/13/08
There is a certain stigma associated with student theater. Undergraduate theater is too experimental, they say, too abstract and inaccessible. At worst, it's poorly written, awkwardly acted and pretentious.
Sure, JHU Theater's New Play Festival was experimental in many ways, often very abstract and, OK, a little pretentious at times. However, the writing was creative and clear and the acting, convincing. JHUT succeeded where other experimental student theater fails: It kept the audience entertained and engaged.
First up for the night was "Freaky Observers," written by senior Sal Gentile and directed by senior Jackie Jennings. The play revolved around the concept of Boltzmann brains, an abstract philosophical concept that argues that the conditions required to create billions of conscious minds (the human race) are much less likely to occur than those that would make one randomly. That is, order would arise in our highly entropic universe once in an epoch, enough to form a self-aware, free-floating "brain." This brain could have memories, emotions, etc., all formed randomly.
The explanation given in the play was similar, if a bit more interestingly presented, but it might have left some of the less abstraction-minded grasping. The play focused on the meeting of two of these minds and the obvious confusion that arose. "Where am I?" asks the first, played by junior Mike Wills. "Nowhere," replies the second (junior Raphael Krut-Landau), and he is being absolutely truthful. Their reality is an illusion, and the second brain helps the first come to terms with their ethereal, transient existence.
The play certainly elicited some head-scratching, but for those even vaguely familiar with problems of consciousness, it presented a classic problem in a novel way. Instead of focusing on the problem of these brains' very existence, we saw it from the perspective of those who would view it as an even greater problem: the brains themselves.
Next up was "Explode!" written by Jackie Jennings and directed by Sal Gentile. This play focused on the strained relationship between Miriam (senior Sam Engel) and Dave (sophomore Kempton Baldridge), who live directly underneath a volcano. Miriam is suffering greatly under the strain is paranoid about the volcano, and is unable to sleep. The couple argues back and forth, exactly mimicking the absurdity of the arguments of real-life long-term couples. While it did not have a terribly complicated plot, the play was layered enough to maintain interest.
Sure, JHU Theater's New Play Festival was experimental in many ways, often very abstract and, OK, a little pretentious at times. However, the writing was creative and clear and the acting, convincing. JHUT succeeded where other experimental student theater fails: It kept the audience entertained and engaged.
First up for the night was "Freaky Observers," written by senior Sal Gentile and directed by senior Jackie Jennings. The play revolved around the concept of Boltzmann brains, an abstract philosophical concept that argues that the conditions required to create billions of conscious minds (the human race) are much less likely to occur than those that would make one randomly. That is, order would arise in our highly entropic universe once in an epoch, enough to form a self-aware, free-floating "brain." This brain could have memories, emotions, etc., all formed randomly.
The explanation given in the play was similar, if a bit more interestingly presented, but it might have left some of the less abstraction-minded grasping. The play focused on the meeting of two of these minds and the obvious confusion that arose. "Where am I?" asks the first, played by junior Mike Wills. "Nowhere," replies the second (junior Raphael Krut-Landau), and he is being absolutely truthful. Their reality is an illusion, and the second brain helps the first come to terms with their ethereal, transient existence.
The play certainly elicited some head-scratching, but for those even vaguely familiar with problems of consciousness, it presented a classic problem in a novel way. Instead of focusing on the problem of these brains' very existence, we saw it from the perspective of those who would view it as an even greater problem: the brains themselves.
Next up was "Explode!" written by Jackie Jennings and directed by Sal Gentile. This play focused on the strained relationship between Miriam (senior Sam Engel) and Dave (sophomore Kempton Baldridge), who live directly underneath a volcano. Miriam is suffering greatly under the strain is paranoid about the volcano, and is unable to sleep. The couple argues back and forth, exactly mimicking the absurdity of the arguments of real-life long-term couples. While it did not have a terribly complicated plot, the play was layered enough to maintain interest.
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