The Eighth Page

“Conundrum” “Complicated Brushstroke” and “Moses, Superstar of David”

Conundrum Conundrum follows Don Key, a Broadway theater producer looking for his next hit. After reading about the show The Producers, he amazingly comes up with an idea that will shock both the world and Mel Brooks’s copyright lawyers. He writes a play about producing a play about making a musical about directing a ballet about producing a Drama Lab for a small boarding school with a hot Head of School. Eric Shinn ’11 both directed the lab and played the part of Don. “I tried to make the character as real as possible. I wanted him to come off as a funny character who is still a genius when it comes to theater.” In reality Don came off as an idiot who writes his plays in crayon after each hit of LSD, but that is still funny. As for the story itself: after the first seven seconds I found myself utterly confused with all of the scenes-within-scenes-within-scenes and Eric Shinn’s stiff body language. However, to the clinically insane or the homeless who want a warm place to sit for 20 minutes, I recommend this paradox they call Conundrum (see what I did there?). Complicated Brushstroke Boasting a title that is sure to indicate a wealth of meaning and importance in the lab, Complicated Brushstroke’s story has about as much meaning and importance as Cher. The story follows a family being torn apart by the youngest son Cletus’s addiction problem. However, he is not addicted to drugs as one would expect, instead he is addicted to his passion: Ultimate Frisbee. Directed by Iona Ford ’10, the Lab takes many twists and turns and leaves you surprised in the end. “We really wanted the acting to flow, you know? We just wanted to take a blank canvas which is the audiences eyes and just fill it with the paint which is our acting” Iona said, sounding like an idiot on Bravo. In reality, the acting is okay but not necessarily public access TV worthy. Also the actors could use some practice throwing a Frisbee as members of the rehearsal audience were struck several times by Frisbees. My final qualm with the Lab was that I got the distinct feeling that the main character, a native of Niger, was racist. Although shortly after when speaking with the actor who played him I learned he was actually just mispronouncing the country. Overall I give Complicated Brushstroke one left ring finger up for a good story and two middle fingers down for a title I feel would be easily found in The Courant. Moses, Superstar of David Following the Jesus Christ, Superstar trend about 30 years late, Moses, Super Star of David follows a similar format. In fact upon inspection of the script it seems they simply took the Jesus Christ, Superstar script and searched and replaced Jesus for Moses. Nonetheless, the story still does have as much humor as you’ll find in the bible (funniest book since The Grapes of Wrath). There were some problems however with the acting. With no director or other willing actors, Marsha Mellou ’13 was the only participant in the lab and was forced to play the part of Moses and have the rest be played by puppets she had to puppeteer. “This made some of the scenes a little awkward, especially the dance ones. But in the end it was a fun experience, I even got some action at the cast party.” Creepy and inhuman romances aside, Moses, Super Star of David is worth seeing if you’re drunk enough not to care about seeing crap. DramaLabs. Tonight – 5:30 p.m. Theatre Classroom. Wear Your Lab Goggles! Or Don’t.