By Liam O’Kennedy, News Correspondent
The melded mass of crimson picture frames, doors and chairs piled high against the left wall of the stage in the Studio Theatre creates a mysterious environment in the small performance space. Closer to the seating area, strings of hanging lights pulsated, illuminating a red and white stage before a twisting black trellis. The surreal set, conceived by assistant professor of theatre and lighting expert Justin Townsend, will host the Northeastern Theatre Department’s presentation of playwright Charles Mee’s “Big Love” for 10 performances starting March 15 at 8 p.m.
The play, a modernized adaptation of Aeschylus’s “The Suppliants” – one of the oldest works in the Western canon – tells the tale of 50 Greek sisters who flee to Italy to escape arranged marriages to their 50 cousins. Director Antonio Ocampo-Guzman, an assistant theatre professor, chose the play for its challenging exploration of the relationship between men and women, and for its array of physically energetic scenes.
“It’s not a traditional theatrical experience,” Ocampo-Guzman said. “The way this play is written is more similar to performance art than to theatre, meaning that the actors are asked to use their bodies, their voices, their imaginations to tell the story in an incredibly compelling way. We have had the good fortune of working with Yo-el Cassell, a teacher of dance at the Boston Ballet who has helped the actors achieve a certain amount of physical dexterity so that they can do different things to help tell the story of the play.”
“Big Love” is Ocampo-Guzman’s third directorial effort at Northeastern following productions of Garcia Lorca’s “Blood Wedding” and Shakespeare’s “Richard III.” The play examines the age-old themes of gender, sex, power and love through a contemporary lens, Ocampo-Guzman said.
“I think it’s a play that people of this generation can relate to,” he said. “Students are always considering their roles in society – as men, as women, as people who are going to enter the professional workforce. The story of this play is that these young people are considering what’s of importance, what’s of value.”
Lauren Maggio, a senior theatre major who plays the feminist bride Thyona, said immersing herself in her character’s fiercely independent spirit and vibrant stage presence has been a taxing undertaking.
“We’re all covered in bruises all over our bodies because we’re legitimately fighting each other on stage,” Maggio said. “It’s completely different from any other theatrical experience that you’ll ever get. There’s fighting, hard-core love scenes, the set is absolutely incredible.”
There’s live music, too. A piano, resplendent in the same crimson coat as the tower of stuff behind it, awaits a player.
“It’s a strange show with fun movement elements, and the design aspect is crazy,” said Joseph Frangieh, a junior theatre major who plays a young Italian man named Giuliano, who escapes the pain of his regret-filled past by playing with dolls and videotaping or photographing everything he sees.
“Giuliano is a very strange character, but that’s a very human thing to do: to look back on the past and think, ‘Oh, if I could go back I would have done this,’” Frangieh said. “I feel bad for him. I bring a lot of myself into him. What really hit me was that I didn’t want to make him a character who was complaining and depressed, but to find the joy that he has. To find the positivity in his negativity was really fun.”
Ocampo-Guzman said the all-student cast and crew are very proud of what they have created, and are yearning for an audience to share it with.
“The greatest manifestation of the health of a production is the level of pride and joy that the actors and the whole company experiences, and this has been really high,” he said.
As for the meaning of the tower of crimson objects, Ocampo-Guzman isn’t talking. Its purpose, he said, will be revealed as the play progresses.
“Big Love” will run through March 25 at the Studio Theatre in Curry with eight performances at 8 p.m. and two Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Students can purchase tickets to the show for $13 on the myNEU portal.
