Theater Underground digs up dark comedy

A haphazard story of fate with turns of event more freakish than
a circus sideshow, Theater Underground’s production of
“Raised in Captivity” will be let loose onto the stage
this weekend at Northwest Campus Auditorium.

The play, written by popular playwright Nicky Silver, begins
when twins Sebastian (Adam Downs) and Bernadette (Bridget Foley)
are reunited after eight years of separation at a funeral for their
mother who died in a freak accident involving a faulty showerhead.
Although it may sound absurd, the play manages to serve as a
springboard to address issues of homosexuality, AIDS and spiritual
redemption. But it always brings back humor in such a way that
pokes fun at the characters overly obsessive and neurotic
behavior.

“Nicky Silver’s writing is so dark, like life
is,” said third-year theater student Bridget Foley.
“But you get humor in the oddest places.”

As fans of Silver’s work, director/actor Adam Downs and
his friend Adrian Balbontin, both third-year theater students,
decided they wanted to put on a production of one of his plays.
Since five cast members were needed, they rounded up two other
friends, Sara Feia and Foley. Only the dual role of Roger the
prostitute and Dylan the convict was left. Once Damien Stolarz was
chosen, the group began rehearsing at the beginning of this
quarter.

“Raised in Captivity” was chosen because of the
cast’s mutual interest in Silver’s dark comedies. They
feel the genre has been missing from Theater Underground’s
productions such as last quarter’s silly, light-hearted
“Secure the Crown! 3.”

“We wanted to do our own production because the (casting)
process (in Theater Underground) can be very political and we
don’t get many opportunities to be in plays,” Downs
said.

The production also gave the four friends a chance to hang out
and work together using the knowledge they had learned in their
theater classes.

“It was really nice to apply what we learned in acting
classes when we went to rehearse later,” said Downs.
“For instance, if we learned about inner monologues we would
try to incorporate it into our rehearsing later that
day.”

And their theater skills definitely had to be put to use in
staging this strange, convoluted plot in which Sebastian, a
down-and-out freelance writer has a postal relationship with a
death-row prisoner. Meanwhile Bernadette’s husband Kip has an
epiphany at a graveyard and decides to give up dentistry to be an
artist who only uses white paint.

Each cast member had the challenge of capturing both the
psychological complexity as well as the humorous eccentricity of
their character. An example is Feia’s portrayal of Hilary the
therapist, who goes crazy and pokes out her eyes in an act of
self-punishment. Foley had the task of humorously portraying the
neurotic and weight-obsessed Bernadette, who gets so overwhelmed by
every little thing in her life that she nearly has a nervous
breakdown in every scene.

But, as Foley said, it’s not just Bernadette that
overreacts every instant. Part of the charm of the play is the
exaggerated, volatile interactions and reactions of all of the
characters.

“Priorities for all the characters are messed up,”
she said. “It’s as if everyone is speaking a different
language.”

“Raised in Captivity” is playing March 7-9 at 8 p.m.
in the Northwest Campus Auditorium, admission is free.