Under The Lights: One Acts, Pleasantly Tolerable

Arts & Culture, Life by Carl Peaslee — November 24, 2009 at 6:55 pm | 3 comments | | Print

I’m usually wary of student productions. I can’t imagine an experience I detest more than watching bad acting — or god forbid, bad a cappella.  My tolerance for awkward is low, so you can understand my initial reluctance to attend Under The Lights presents One Acts. It’s not that I have anything in particular against UTL, just student projects in general. In the end though, I was satisfied with the six short plays, a production which I can best describe as pleasantly tolerable.

There were a few standout performers and a few more people who should probably not quit on that finance sequence. The first one act “Miss You” is unlikely to fall under the standout category. “Miss You” chronicled the phone conversations of four entangled lovers.  I didn’t find the plot particularly compelling but my largest complaint was the softness of the actor’s voices. One attendee put it best by saying, “I wanted to yell, ‘Speak up!’”

The next play “The Philadelphia,” a humorous scene set in a small diner, was, judging from the crowd reactions, a far more successful production.  Some of the play’s regional jokes surrounding Philadelphia went over my ignorant midwestern head, yet, I still found the actors’ performances funny. Max Menke in particular stole the show with a decidedly CMC attitude, a feat even more impressive coming from a Pitzer student, in addition to a number of well delivered punch-lines.

“The Sandbox” was another instance of something that went over this reviewer’s head. I couldn’t even begin to explain the meaning of the third play’s surreal, bizarre mix of Los Angeles oriented religious references. I spent most of the act trying to figure out what was going on. But big props to Tyler Lamon for sporting his junk through all fifteen minutes of the play.  Acting is nerve wracking enough without having nothing but a thin piece of spandex between your pee-er and your peers.

The staging of “Post Its” was effectively simple although I found it to be at points emotionally ambiguous. Blow-up doll and Viagra jokes were interspersed with profound reflections on relationships and growing old. The stage directions were minimal and “Post Its” could have easily sunk into monotony had it not been for the strong performances from Wade Vaughn and Andie Wheatley.

I appreciated the attempts by the “Crack The Whip” cast to adapt the the play to the Claremont audience. Caroline Taylor was great as the air-headed Pitzer dream girl. Unfortunately, during the Saturday showing the actors seemed to have a few problems remembering lines and keeping straight faces. Still, the play stood apart in my mind both because of the unique script changes and less-contrived subject matter. My largest criticism of the one acts would certainly be the script choices. The acting wasn’t exceptional but it certainly wasn’t abysmal either, rather I felt many of the chosen plays felt cliche and overwrought. Except in the case of “The Sandbox” — where I just had no clue what was going on.

The final play “Chocolate” probably got the most laughs of the night thanks to amusing performances from Jennifer Baute and Will Kahn. Kahn’s hilarious British/French/German detective accent, a ridiculous amalgamation of strange syntax and odd emphasis, got a laugh every line. The entire play was a Kahn accent delivery system. Baute did a great job of setting up Kahn and getting out of the way. She let him roll his Rs and pace around the stage and never missed an opportunity to draw out another “No, thank you.”

All in all, watching Under The Lights One Acts was a satisfying way to spend ninety minutes  of my Saturday night– plus there was free food.