Amid dozens of borrowed, mismatched chairs and a couple of broken-in sofas, a few University students hope to create something as honest as it is unusual.
For the past year, four theatre seniors have been working to put together an original play: a succinct, 40-minute show making its debut tonight in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building. “Lab Show 6” attempts to turn traditional theatre on its head with a couple of notable omissions: no set and no words.
According to one of its creators, Director Peryn Schmidtt, the wordless play shows a “completely different style” of theatre.
“The reason why there’s no speaking in it is because everything in the environment is the text,” Schmidtt said.
Instead of words, “Lab Show 6” focuses on sound, lighting and — most noticeably — four sections of unorthodox seating encircling an empty floor for the performers. Each section represents a different area of life: risers for “education,” couches and a coffee table for “family,” uniform rows of black chairs for “digital” and a jumble of colorful chairs for “social.”
Sound designer Devon Lamond said the variety of seating reflects the play’s theme of choice, involving the audience in the story by letting them choose an area to sit. The decision to put the play together “backwards” by designing the environment first and giving the actors no dialogue also aims to tell a more immersive story.
“The idea is, if you’re going to present some understanding of humans on the stage, then it makes more sense to start with the world that they live in,” Lamond said. “Humans come last in the world … And words came last of all.”
In another act of defiance, “Lab Show 6” does not follow a linear story. The play centers instead on a cast of six student-actors moving through the female lead’s stream of consciousness. Sound designer Adam Waguespack said the text should play out organically.
“We’re playing a lot with ideas of expectations and self-awareness. The play at its core is about her being thrust into these environments and how she reacts and interacts with what she’s given in that environment,” Waguespack said.
If “ideas of expectations and self-awareness” sound familiar to many University students, it’s no accident. The creators (a group that also includes choreographer Ryann Pinkerton) sought to craft an authentic story about self-reflection, one to which many college-aged people can relate.
“We were so honest … with our approach.” Lamond said. “There’s a point where we were like, ‘What do we understand that we can do?’”
Without the fourth wall to separate the crowd from the action, the students behind “Lab Show 6” are reaching out to the audience to tell their story.
“The show isn’t about narrating an experience; it’s about experiencing a narrative,” Lamond said.
“Lab Show 6” opens at 7:30 tonight in the Studio Theatre in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building and will run through Sunday, April 21, with an additional matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets cost $10 cash at the door.
What: “Lab Show 6”
Where: Studio Theatre in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building
When: April 16-21 at 7:30 p.m., April 21 at 2 p.m.
Cost: $10 cash
Different styles of chairs face stage lights in the Music and Dramatic Arts Building April 15, 2013. The play has six actors, is a year in the making, and will run from Tuesday through sunday at 7:30 pm, with another showing at 2:00 pm on Sunday. Tickets are $10 at the door.
