Theater, as well as the art of performing, has always held the power to entertain audiences around the world since the very beginning. Tragedies have made us cry, Comedies have made us laugh, Histories have educated us, and Musicals have inspired us. Time and time before, I have said that theater can be performed anywhere and by anyone. I append this by saying that theater can be performed in any sort of way. This is most prominent, when it comes to performance classes, whether at a school/university or community center such as YMCA, boys and girls club, etc. These classes, mostly, consist of a series of exercises focusing on the actors body rather than working on an actual show.
This week, from thursday April 9th to sunday April 12th, the Student Theater Ensemble of Salem State University opens their new show Circle Mirror Transformation by Annie Baker. The play consists of performances by Kellie Moon, Olivia Duamine, Jodi Buoncuore, James Wechsler, and Ryan Hull, and directed by Alex Portenko. Circle Mirror Transformation is about a class of five individuals of different ages; Marty (Moon) the teacher of the class, James (Wechsler) Marty's husband, Theresa (Dumaine) an energetic woman from the city, Shultz (Hull) a carpenter, and Lauren (Buoncuore) a high school theater student, and their six week long journey through different performance exercises.
Both the direction from director Portenko and performances by the ensemble are equally masterful. The play, itself, is written with a lot of unfinished sentences, long pauses, and awkward chemistry between characters. Making this play all the more realistic. All performed perfectly by each cast member. Portenko's main direction for this play, was to take something ordinary and transform it into something extraordinary. Pun intended.
This play comes highly recommended. It shows what exercises may be performed in performance classes, as well as what kind of effect these sort of classes can do. They not only can help you discover and practice different exercises to help warm up when performing, but they can also assist in self realization, togetherness among strangers, and opening yourself up to what lies ahead before all of us in life as well as what questions to ask ourselves and consider along the way.
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