These are words on a page. You cannot hear my voice and you cannot see my face, but we are still connected.
Theatre Fairfield’s latest production, dis/connect, explored the ways people connect – and don’t – in today’s technologically driven world.
Under the direction of Professor Jon Micheels Leiseth, students created this piece, addressing the distance caused by technology, ethnicity, schedules and conformity.
Known as devised theatre, the students involved developed the script and story progression through their own creative collaboration, the only foundation being the topic at hand.
The show integrated technology, such as live video chats between Marc, played by Tim King ’08, and Lucy, played by Lindsey McKitterick, a long-distance couple trying to stay connected. Gary Pelletier ’09 played Gerald, a socially awkward student who used instant messaging to reveal his crush on Ally, played by Sarah Gatti ’10.
Highlighting our generation’s tendency to type rather than talk, Gerald and Ally exemplified the freedom many feel when the possibility of face-to-face rejection is removed. Pelletier’s character even typed a line claiming the “free” feeling he felt “here” on the internet, claiming he could open up to Ally easier even though he was quiet by nature.
Ally and Gerald’s relationship took a turn for the worse when Marc (King) posed as Gerald in an internet chatroom, convincing her to meet him somewhere to watch a meteor shower all as a rouse to rape her.
Gatti’s dramatic performance and emotional breakdown toward the end of the show displayed her outstanding acting skills, leaving people on the edge of their seats and with tears in their eyes.
Characters, such as Vanessa, played by Amal White ’11, Kadianna, played by Kristen Edwards ’11, and Oscar, played by Tony da Costa ’08, displayed the presence of diversity in our everyday lives and how we try to ignore other ethnicities and cultures instead of trying to understand them.
Claire, played by Colleen Kennedy ’09, was a student trying to accomplish many things in one day. Schedule-oriented and motivated to get things done, Claire literally became tied down to her schedule in one scene when the rest of the ensemble attacked her with sticky note reminders and taping her to a pole.
Later, Claire emerged wearing a jacket covered in sticky notes, which she proceeded to remove, shedding the stresses of everyday life and speaking one of the most poignant monologues of the show.
Claire mentioned her day not going the way she had intended, making her wonder if, while one thinks there life is going in one direction, maybe it is actually going in the complete opposite direction – that maybe while we are being distracted by all the goings-on of the day, we miss the one window of opportunity to walk the path we are meant to take.
Barbie, played by Sarah Zybert ’09, also provided a thought-provoking monologue. Representing conformity at its most extreme, Zybert wore a Barbie mask for the majority of the play, walking like a plastic doll consumed by Starbucks, shopping and beach parties with Ken.
However, after a talk with her older sister on the ever-present cell phone, Barbie broke from her plastic movements and stripped her mask, realizing the potential so many have if they just embrace their ambitions.
And sewn throughout the entire play, Ava, played by Laura Marciano ’08, continued to talk to her professor, responding to their comments on her love poems. Ava claimed that to know how to love is to know how to be human, and that God is present in everyone and what we do for others.
Ava (Marciano) even told one anecdote about how she was sitting in a lounge when one girl, played by White, walked in and just stood in silence for a period of time, and instead of trying to get to know her and listen to her story, Ava simply let her leave without taking the chance to connect with someone new.
Reminiscent of plays done during “365 Days/365 Plays” last November, this story makes us realize that we tend to avoid what is different from the normal. Ignorance is bliss. And maybe this is where we can best begin to reconnect with those around us.
By embracing the differences instead of ignoring their existence, maybe we can finally see that it is love that brings us all together – that love and understanding is what can bridge this “dis/connect.”
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