Common Problems for an 'Uncommon' Production

Uncommon Children

Uncommon Women and Others

Uncommon Women and Others

Moonchildren

Written by Michael Weller

Directed by

Dorothy Fortenberry '02

Andrew Boch '02

Starring

Libby Shani '02

Annelise Nelson '02

Jay chaffin '01

Joe Nuccio '01

Leverett Old Library

Through Dec. 11

At first glance, Uncommon Children could well be the title of a play depicting the journey of a few extraordinary young men and women through adolescence to their admission at Harvard College. But you won't find the Crimson Key society performing variations at information sessions. In fact, Uncommon Children comes from a combination of the titles of two plays --Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein and Moonchildren by Michael Weller--produced together in the Leverett Old Library though December 11.

The plays were produced in combination presumably because both are "short" works about the life of college students over the course of their senior years. Each play is in fact short, in that neither merits its own intermission; however, including the break between the plays, the production is four hours long. During the last stretch between ten and eleven there is definitely a sense of restlessness throughout the theatre, which unfortunately has as much to do with the production of Moonchildren as the inevitable urge to move.

Uncommon Women and Others revolves around the lives of seven seniors and one freshman at Mt. Holyoke College in 1972, examining their experiences both in college and at a reunion six years later. While only a few of these women consider themselves "uncommon" in reference to societal expectations, they all have conflicting ideas about the changing times in which they live and about the adults that they are becoming. Their afternoons are full of tea and brandy, while their evenings are full of more risqu behavior: applying to law school or sneaking out to have sex. The play is a comedy, and by focusing on its comic aspects, director Dorothy Fortenberry '02 successfully avoids the preachy and whiny mess that the material could easily become. Wasserstein's message is that a woman must choose between being feminine and having a career and that either way she will regret her decision and feel unfulfilled.

If some of the characters overact, it is only to serve the greater cause of the comedy. Libby Shani '02 is radiant as Rita Altabel--spirited and rebellious and thoroughly blunt. She has fun with a part that lets her talk at length about the various penises she has encountered and that requires her to say "I've tasted my menstrual blood!" on more than one occasion. Rita plays well off of her friend Samantha Stewart (Annalise Nelson '02), who wants nothing more than to be the woman behind the man she marries. Though she is characterized as the perfect wife, Samantha happily plays along with Rita--acting like a man and choosing which of her girlfriends she would marry.

Though a bit artificial at first, Jessica Shapiro '01 eventually shines as Kate Quin, a perfectionist and future lawyer who acts out romance novels to herself during her spare time. And newcomers Eva Furro '03 and Carrie Roby '03 are excellent in their smaller roles--Roby especially as the silent freshman Carter.

Rita, during a late night chat predicts that by the time all of her friends are thirty, each of them will be "incredible" and "pretty fucking amazing." By the end of the play that prediction has not come to fruition, and it is implied that their situation is not going to be much better when the women are forty. The travails of these young women trying to carve a place in society for all future women are difficult, and sometimes a bit depressing, but they are still a pleasure to watch.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for Moonchildren. Set during the '66-'67 school year, the play revolves around the lives of seven college hippies--five men and two women--living communally in an apartment in New York. The issue of the day is the Vietnam War, and the men are terrified of being drafted after they graduate. That is to say, one of them mentions that inclination once near the beginning of the play. Weller's idea of developing this theme consist of having his protagonist Bob (Jay Chaffin '01) summoned for a medical exam, act like he is dead for a month, and then forget the issue entirely. The draft is not mentioned again, though one would assume it would be the main cause for worry among five healthy male college seniors. In fact, there are no real issues addressed during the play. Each of the characters is barely a sketch of an individual. Bob is supposed to be written with slightly more depth than the others, but we don't realize this until his monologues at the end of the play because he has spent so little time on stage.

I wish I could say that the actors did as best they could with the undeveloped material they were given. Unfortunately, they seemed to exacerbate the situation. Joe Nuccio '01 as Mike yells and jumps around so much that even potentially funny speeches become annoying. His chauvinist roommate Dick (Josh Glassman '02), who is written as suddenly developing feelings near the end of the play, comes across as static as Mike is irritatng. In general, Glassman seems to have a poor grasp of his character. Dick seems more like a modern Middlebury student wearing tie-die over his J. Crew than the hippie he was written as. The women--Ruth (Shapiro) and Cathy (Shani)--are mopey and whiney respectively. In fact, the most tolerable character is Norman (Tom Miller '03), the math graduate student without social skills.

But the award for most memorable character goes to Willis the hunchbacked landlord (Dan Hughes '01). Willis has a soft spot towards hippies and recounts to them his disturbing dreams where he controls an African tribe and its mating rituals. The word "moonchildren" actually originates from his speeches and not some flower-children synonym. Willis is quite a character, but the audience has no idea why his role exists. Maybe he is supposed to represent the government, which is arbitrary and cruel under the guise of kind Uncle Sam. If we felt that the characters in the commune had any relation to the outside world the explanation might hold, but as it is the short appearance of the landlord makes as much sense as any of the characters' actions.