Satirical show asks “˜Why am I here?’

  Photos by JANA SUMMERS Jay Dillon, a
third-year music student, plays Jeremie Brillant,
a third-year sociology student, in a game of foosball during a
rehearsal of the play "How to Major in Foosball."

By Kate Bristow
Daily Bruin Contributor

It haunts you during soporific lectures, the night before
midterms and every time you have to pay to wash your clothes. The
question “Why am I here?” lurks in the minds of even
the most focused and independent students at some point during
their years at a university.

Written, directed and acted entirely by UCLA students,
“How to Major in Foosball,” brings that question to the
stage, addressing the wide range of motivations people have for
going to school. The play premiers tonight at 8 p.m. in the
Northwest Campus Auditorium and shows again on Friday.

“Everyone can relate to the play if they go to
college,” said Rockey Caringello, a first-year English
student and cast member. “It’s like they’re still
trying to be kids and have fun while at the same time figure out
where they are going with their lives.”

“How to Major in Foosball” is sponsored by the
On-Campus Housing Committee Arts Council and the Educational
Planning Committee/Office of Residential Life. Admission is
free.

  Brynn Fee gets angry at Jeremie
Brillant during one of the play’s rehearsals, held on
Hilgard Avenue. “Because we were sponsored and no one has
lost any money, I’d just rather not charge admission,”
said “Foosball” playwright and director Jeff Thom, a
third-year English transfer student. “I’d rather have
more audience and more people. I think a lot of theater is
overpriced.”

Tonight’s audience will not be the first to witness a
performance of Thom’s college satire. In May of 1999,
“How to Major in Foosball” was performed at the
University of San Diego, where Thom first came up with the idea for
the play and put pen to page.

“My freshman year I was frustrated and bored with class so
I started writing plays,” Thom said. “We had a foosball
table in our common room and I was sitting, watching my roommates
play one night when I thought, “˜What are they doing here?
What am I doing here?’ And the play just kind of flowed from
there.”

Without a structured plot, “How to Major in
Foosball” is a character play that discusses the different
motivations people have for going to college. The different motifs
are embodied in each of the characters, all of whom are based upon
Thom’s roommates his freshman year at USD.

“I was working on another play at the time when the idea
for “˜Foosball’ occurred to me,” Thom said.
“The title came out as a joke that same night when my
roommates asked me, “˜If you were writing a play about us,
what would you call it?’ And I said, “˜How to Major in
Foosball.'”

Although the characters in Thom’s play hold names such as
“Frat Boy” and “G-Dawg,” they are not the
stereotypes audiences might expect them to be.

“The play has too much irony for stereotypes,” said
second-year Peter Gazdag. “The characters are not unfounded
““ they are all based on people Jeff knew. Even what you might
think is an exaggeration is actually based on real people, and
it’s cast really well. The people playing the parts are
perfect for them.”

For the open auditions, Thom actively recruited people without
any acting experience solely because they looked right for the
part. He found his perfect “Frat Boy,” third-year
sociology student Jeremie Brillant, in the Hilgard Houses, and his
perfect “Drift,” Caringello, in the English
Department.

“It was really kind of random,” Caringello said.
“I have no acting experience at all. I met Jeff in the
English building one day and I guess for some reason I kind of look
like what he envisioned for my character, so he asked me to come
audition.”

Although the cast has little to no acting experience, all its
members have talents for playing their parts, largely because they
are acting out roles familiar to them.

The stage’s only set is familiar as well. The entire play
takes place in a boys’ college dorm common room, equipped
with the customary loveseat, a typical doctor’s office couch
and, most importantly, a full-sized foosball table. Both stage and
characters hit close to home.

“I think anyone can find some truth in the play and be
able to relate to it in one way or another,” Brillant
said.

It’s a real, live play based on real, live people and
written, directed, acted and produced by real, live UCLA students.
Based on the writer’s own experiences and frustrations,
“How to Major in Foosball” provides an answer to every
college student’s questions, “What am I doing here? How
do you major in foosball?”

THEATER: “How to Major in Foosball”
plays tonight and Friday at 8 p.m. in the Northwest Campus
Auditorium. Admission is free.