By Kelli Henderson/entertainment editor
Theatre Northwest brings the story of a group of outcasts to the stage with SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian and directed by NW drama instructor Brent Alford.
The story surrounds the realities 20-year-olds face with vulgar language, ignorant stereotypes and dark endings.
The play, set in 1994 when Bogosian wrote the original script, will run April 25-29. Language is a big part of this story. Without the crude language, the story would not be as believable, Alford said.
“Bogosian is known for his ability to capture extremely realistic contemporary dialogue, hence the language,” Alford said. “I hear it in the halls every day. I mean the language can be pretty severe, and that’s just the way these characters talk. That’s just the way a lot of 20-year-olds talk, and if you didn’t have that element, it wouldn’t be truthful.”
The play centers on a group of friends who are lost in the direction they need to go with their lives. They hang outside a convenience store together in the small town of Burnfield.
NW student Joshua Jones plays Jeff. Jones said Jeff is one of the few characters in the play who the audience sees start out as one person and become another by the end.
“I’ve been in every production this year,” he said. “This one is different because there are so many realizations that have to be felt inside the character and then portrayed as opposed to the last show where it was you had a thought and you just do it. It’s very internal, and it’s much more intense and intimate.”
Anastasia Braswell plays Sooze, Jeff’s girlfriend. Braswell said Sooze is a confident person who doesn’t let anyone around her bring her down.
The NW student said she can relate to her character because she has lived in the same place and wants to get out. She said she hopes the audience can see that living is bigger than the things keeping them from doing what they really want to do.
“The world isn’t just the stereotypes that you see or the people that you talk to everyday,” Braswell said. “So this play has a lot of powerful stereotypes and assumptions and ethics, and there is so much more to life than that.”
SubUrbia gives the audience a chance to take a look into the minds of young people, people who are at such a pivotal point in their lives that they can easily be swayed to do the wrong or right thing.
Alford said the play mirrors life.
“I see that every day as a teacher, you know, students who, they really don’t know if they want to go to college, do they not want to go to college?” he said.
The play also shows the need for role models, Alford said.
“All of these characters in this play are searching for something,” he said. “They don’t even necessarily know what it is, but they know that the lives they are leading now cannot continue down this road because there is no end. It’s a dead end.”
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sunday. Tickets are free for TCC students, faculty and staff, $3 for other students and seniors and $6 for general public. For more information, call the box office at 817-515-7724.
