By Emily Sullivan
Opinion Editor
On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the Garret Theater opened its doors to a crowd of people, all waiting to be seated and watch SBU Theater’s performance of “The Walls” by Lisa Dillman. The set, skillfully designed by Becky Misenheimer, associate professor of theater, looked normal enough; a few doorways, a table and two chairs. Hanging above the perimeter of the stage were pictures of radiators of varying colors.
But when the play, directed by Ed. Simone, professor of theater and director of the theater program, began, the set became anything but simple. It became home to a plethora of colorful characters that all had one thing in common: society had deemed them crazy.
The play starts off with frenzied energy, with several characters on the stage all speaking at once. When the stage clears, we are left with Carrie, played wonderfully by junior journalism and mass communication and theater major Tori Lanzillo, who is working on a book about women with mental illness.
We quickly learn that Carrie has dealt with mental illness her whole life due to her mother Virginia, played by senior journalism and mass communication major Mary Best, who has dementia. Best solidly portrayed the crazed energy of her character, making her loveable at times, but easy to hate during others.
Through Carrie’s journey, we learn about several different women. Jane, played by sophomore journalism and mass communication and Spanish major Whitney Downard, is a woman from the 1800s who shakes horribly and relies on stabbing herself with a sewing needle to calm herself down. Downard did a wonderful job showing the frailty of Jane, even after she left the asylum and had to try and move on with her life.
Alice, portrayed by senior theater major Chasity Brooke Perkins, is a seemingly ordinary housewife from the 1920s. Her husband has had her institutionalized, even though it’s not clear as to whether or not she deserved it. During her time in the asylum, she slowly begins to lose her composure and embrace the insanity she was committed for. Perkins’ gave a stunning performance. She perfectly captured the ideal 1920s housewife, but she was also able to show a wilder side and become a woman forced into insanity.
Senior journalism and mass communication major Makeda Loney played Lucy, an eccentric young girl of the present who Carrie meets during her investigation. Lucy allows Carrie to look into her troubled past all while forcing Carrie to look inside herself and realize she may be just as unstable as the rest of the women she is writing about. With Loney’s brightly-colored hair and equally colorful personality, she embodied Lucy perfectly.
The entire cast played their characters wonderfully, including senior journalism and mass communication and theater major Frederick Alvarez, who expertly played Jane’s husband, Plaid Cranston, and junior theater major Lea Battaglia, who gave an emotional performance as Alice’s daughter.
Two freshmen, journalism and mass communication major Miguel Lopez and visual arts and computer science major Nathan Cass, joined the cast for their first performances at SBU.
As the story continues, Carrie finds herself changed by the stories of all these women. She is able to start coming to terms with the guilt she feels over her mother’s death and the idea that everyone is a little bit insane.
“The Walls” was absolutely amazing. The entire two hours flew by in a swirl of insanity, hopefulness and heartbreak. There are still two more shows: tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
