aaUnderConstruction

//Under Construction// Abby Amato

//Under Construction// is a wildly inventive and experimental play. The play did not follow the typical streamline narrative of most plays and instead weaves together many singular and diverse moments characterized by different theater techniques. //Under Construction// deftly moves from monologues, to dance, to song, to interacting with audience all while trying to present what it truly means to be American, encapsulating many questions such as what should we aspire to, what do we really want and who are we beneath the pretext and social constructs of American life? It presents issues that divide and define America in the past as well as today, such as: racism, love, sexuality, expectations, addiction, artistic expression, and gender roles by utilizing singular moments in a diverse group of American’s lives from the 1950’s to the present to represent what we know as America. The inner struggles of the characters help to characterize the broad themes and issues we face in America. The play jumps from incredibly solemn and serious to lighthearted and joyous in order to balance out the emotionality that the audience must absorb and contemplate. Some scenes are incredibly heavy and deal with issues such as rape, alcoholism, and depression, which then foray into a scene where the entire cast assembles for a musical number which would put into context which decade in American life it was. Some things that the play did very well were the lighting, set design, and props as they were highly creative and interpretive, the music which played a central role in helping to define the timeline and emotionality of the play, the director who conjured up an interesting interpretation of the script and the actors who not only poured their souls into their characters, but possessed multiple talents such as singing, dance, and playing instruments. The only thing that could have been improved would be maybe slightly less reliance on incredibly heavy monologues, which weighed heavily upon the psyche of the audience.

The lighting and set designers did an incredible job with interpreting such a theatrical and highly interpretive play. One instance where the lighting was incredibly effective was during the scene where a character was retelling of the time she got raped. During her monologue just a single hanging, swinging bulb was present to light the stage. At the end of her monologue it is revealed that she remembers in the cellar where she was raped that there was a single, swinging light bulb. This lighting effect really helped to underscore the heavy, chilling emotionality of this scene and what it means. It helped to give the scene immense gravity and weight that it deserved. Like the lighting, the set was very minimal, but incredibly effective at helping to interpret all the disparate scenes that woven together to create the American experience. The emotions and weightiness of the scene in which a woman through a monologue expresses her sorrow about her husband goes off to war and getting killed in battle, was underscored by the set which only consisted of a see-through plastic tarp that hung around the entirety of the back of the stage that the rest of the cast posed behind. It lent to tone of the scene and seemed to emote the feeling of disconnect from those in America who had sent their loved ones off to battle never to see them return and felt the huge loss that results from that and the incredibly patriotic, overly naive attitude promoted by the general public to romanticize war, duty, and honor. Props were also used creatively in //Under Construction// in order to emphasize the time period. This was seen in the beginning scene of the play in which a 1950’s family is supposed to be depicted as a Norman Rockwell painting of the American family at dinner. The props and costumes were highly kitschy with pictures of typical American food being mounted to a single wooden beam representing the table and over-sized paper costumes depicting typical 50’s garb, which aided in expressing the overly-commercialized, trapped with societal norms, mood of the 1950's.

The musicality of the play had a twofold use, it was in some parts used to define the decades and to provide mood. The play was not necessarily a musical, but it did utilize songs to move the play along throughout history and often to provide some levity from the solemn issues being tackled. Each song that was song was usually a song popular in the decade, such as a song from //Grease// being used in the 1950’s era of the play. Another instance of the musicality was when it followed a very dark scene, such as the one where an interpretative dance played out a man forcing himself on a woman, which was then followed by a very goofy song and dance by the entire cast to provide comic relief. The use of musical instruments being used in the middle of the play instead of an intermission also provided comic relief for the audience, as the musicians interacted and joked with the audience. This allowed some emotional breathing room before the audience had to plunge back into the deeper issues of the American experience.

The director, C.A. Farris III, did an excellent job of interpreting a very disparate (but engaging and interesting)script written by Charles Mee. Charles Mee dexterously jumped from one issue to another in his script. He did it by presenting the issues in America as very singular issues presented in little vignettes presented usually by one actor. We got to know the American experience, all its trials and tribulations, through moments and excerpts in the character’s lives. We got to see through wisps of dances, quotes, monologues, and brief moments in the characters’ lives what it truly means to live the “American Dream”. From incredibly harrowing monologues about dealing with loss, racism, sexism, rape, sexuality and alcoholism to the more light moments characterizing the hilarity of life such as sex, dating, and the scene where girls learn how to be a good wife, we come to see the moments that weave together to form the melting pot of experience that have come to typify the true America, not the one presented by its facade C.A. Farris III obviously understood the representative nature of this play steered the play in the direction of experimentation and used props and the set almost as metaphors instead of basing them in reality. Through his choices of a more metaphorical approach to this play, it enables the audience to have more freedom when interpreting what all the small vignettes mean for the American experience. This play was designed to bring social issues to the forefront and by leaving many aspects of the play, the lighting, the set, the props, as being representational rather than realistically portraying them, it allows the audience room to ruminate and come to their own conclusions.

C.A. Farris III also did a wonderful job casting. Each actor possessed many talents beyond acting, such as singing, dancing, playing an instrument. Their depth of skill at emoting was amazing. I was blown away by some of the emotions expressed during each character’s monologue. The monologue about rape and the monologue about being gay, black, and female in America both were carried by the soul-bearing acting of these two actresses. They both made you feel their inner struggle and both took up the whole room with their acting; you could scarcely focus on anything else. The dancing done by another actress was amazing; through one interpretive dance we understood what it was like to be overpowered by a man’s will. He spectacular dancing allowed the audience to understand what her movements were supposed to represent. The multicultural aspect and diversity of the cast also lent incredibly well to dealing with issues of racism, sexism, and sexuality. It allowed for the exploration into struggles for different people in American, such as for the gay community, or the African American community, or women. It allowed for the mosaic-like effect of the play to truly shine and come together to underscore the diversity of the American experience.

My only critique would be that the play at times could be heavy handed. I felt like it was trying to go for the same feel as // Angles in America //, in that it wanted to explore social issues present in American society, especially those that typical-middle-America tends to ignore, but instead of the expert balancing act that // Angles In America // achieves by combining tender poignancy with biting comedy, // Under Construction // tends to hit you over the head with its heavy topics intermittently broken up by jokey musical interludes. It can be incredibly emotionally wearing and exhausting for the audience.

Overall this play was artfully executed and allowed for a full experience of what is like to live in America.