Suburbia

Suburbia Paper A staple of a feature liberal arts education would be theater that truly presses the boundaries of conventional society. CUs recent rendition of Eric Bogosians Suburbia revealed how great bowlder is at pushing the limits of what is considered politically correct, and challenging taboos. The story takes place in front of a 7-11 in a small, suburban New Jersey town, and follows a tragic two day span in the life of a few early 20 something youths, who be circling the pr overbial drain. The youths spend the majority of their duration drinking and complaining about the world instead of working to improve themselves.The main character, Jeff Gallagher, is a troubled alcoholic who is in love with the idea of his young woman Sooze Beckwith. To say that their relationship is complicated would be putting it lightly, with Jeffs Rebel Without a Cause mindset and Soozes dream of moving to New York and sightly a successful artist. They were doomed from the start, but with the in troduction of Neil Pony Moynihan, the plays antagonist, their fate is sealed. Easily considered the intimately complex character in the play, Tim Mitchums character appealed to me the most as the playwrite dared to spotlight an American hero, the soldier, in a way considered most taboo.Propaganda films since the 1920s have done a fantastic calling at glorifying the soldier as an American hero, so Bogosians decision to depict the honorably discharged Irag veteran as an unfulfilled alcoholic with feat anxiety is extremely progressive and daring. The interaction between Tim and the Pakistani store owners was an excellent depiction of recent day racism and prejudice. The action of the play begins with the reunion of the gangs aforementioned high school companion turned successful musician, Pony. His presence is unwelcomed by Jeff, who feels his relationship with Sooze is threatened by the successes experienced by Pony.The conflict only gets worse as Sooze starts to fancy the idea o f moving to New York with Pony. The action climaxes with the death of Bee-Bee Douglass from alcohol poisoning and drug overdose. This death was typic of the realization experienced, by each of the characters, that life is real and there are consequences to each of your actions or lack-there-of. I would strongly recommend seeing a capital punishment of Suburbia, especially to a member of my own generation, as it has a deeply profound message, disguised with the language often spoken by todays youth. There is more to a successful performance than an edgy plot.CUs utilization of a Black Box stage really aided in the effect by adding to the realism of the show. It gave the audience a chance to get immersed into the story. In the first act, as the lights go on, the audience is overwhelmed by actors dressed in plain clothes, behaving much as the troubled youth behave in the real world today. This coupled with being on level ground as the audience allows the audience to feel as if they are watching the events happen not being performed. This causes the viewers to be dragged in and become fully invested in the play from being so close and in the action.Another design element that really stood out to me was the attention to detail in everything ranging from the stocked shelves on the midland of the store, where no action takes place, to the simplicity of the costumes worn throughout the course of the action. In the turn act, Pony, the famous rockstar walks on stage with only a guitar case to tick himself from the regular people of his hometown. This symbolism added to the theme that you are in control of your life by showing that even the ones idolized by the masses are still just regular people with small distinguishing features.Within the first few minutes of the show the audience is overwhelmed with F-bombs and politically incorrect slurs. Suburbias abradant dialogue might be concerning to some, and the directors decision to keep all of it certainly speaks on the intended message. The aspect that won me over the most was in the first act when the character most responsible for comedic relief, buffer store Macleod, was constantly making a mess by throwing food and beer all over the stage. The utilization of authentic props greatly added to the plays realism.Buffs character is written to be zany and comical, but the way the actor became Buff was by chewing his pizza with his mouth open and fully investing in each step of his blocking, forcing him to act exchangeable a complete buffoon. The second act was won over by a spectacular performance by the actress playing Bee-Bee. The directing and acting styles used to portray the emotional upthrust suffered really allowed to audience to feel how Bee-Bee felt immediately prior to her suicide. Her wavering voice as she spoke her final words on the phone pressure the room to tears as the crowd watched the life being drawn from a vibrant youth.As a typically emotionless male stereotype, I regre t to admit that even my eyes came in contact with the occasional twinkle of sadness. Strictly for the emotional experience alone, I would recommend this show be frequented. The ware did an amazing job at projecting the message of how life can pass you by, if you dont take full advantage of the privileges given. This life lesson is strongest during the some(prenominal) conflicts between the alcoholic veteran Tim and the muslim store owner Nazeer.Tim represents the loss of drive to have a happy life whereas Nazeer being the foreigner with American dream aspirations represents optimism and hope. This message could be easily translated into a contemporary jump number with minimal subtractions from the original piece. The reason this is possible is due to the fact that, like the characters themselves, the plot is rather stagnant without clear direction. The main themes of the play were not ones that were so abstract that dialogue is a necessity, so the removal of that would not trim from the message.The strong character development would translate very well, giving the dancers room to be expressive with the roles. As with most things in life, this translation would have both its advantages as well as its disadvantages. The strongest benefit would be that the translation would be less aggressive without its foul language, allowing a broader audience to be impacted by the message. The disadvantage would be that in translating the piece you would forfeit the shocking power that much of the dialogue had.The complete disrespect that Tim shows to Nazeer would be difficult to translate into dance without the impact of taboo language used in the original. In summation, Suburbia was an edgy, progressive play about the dwindling youth of suburban America. I would strongly recommend going to see it not only for entertainment purposes, but also for the opportunity to see a play that is destined to pioneer modern theater. Bogosians complete disregard for political correctne ss is a welcomed innovation to the arts that I hope to see in more up and orgasm theater.