Spring into 'Wintertime'

With spring just around the corner, the Boston College theatre department presented its fifth full-length performance of the season, Wintertime. Written by Obie Award-winning playwright Charles Mee, Wintertime was a workshop production directed by Amanda Engborg, A&S '08, that stunned and amused audiences this St. Patrick's Day weekend.

Wintertime takes place during the holidays at a summer home in upstate New York and follows your typical American family; dysfunctional, arguing, but ultimately full of laughter and love. Each member of the family has come to the lake house to spend some quality alone time with their significant other. The mother brings her French lover, the father brings his male lover, and the son brings his girlfriend in the hopes of proposing; jealousies, grudges, and anger come exploding out when all meet. Love, like many a Facebook status will tell you, is complicated.

The best word to describe this theatrical wonderland is surreal. Walking into the transformed Bonn Studio Theater was much like falling down a frosty rabbit hole. The set, designed by Molly Baum, A&S '08, was almost completely white at the start of the show, and surrounded on almost all sides by the audience. At the center of this abstract stage were large white glass doors and the outside world seemed to have taken over the house, or vice versa. Amid the home objects, like the white piano and white fireplace, were snow banks, a clothesline, and beautiful white trees made from nothing more than fabric and light. Even the floor, covered with a kind of foil, appeared to be shattered pieces of ice that came hurdling into the room. Beautiful and engaging, only the placement of a tree in front of an audience section slightly marred the viewing of this snow-globe world. All of the technical elements of the show blended together beautifully, from the cold lighting designed by Greg O'Kane, A&S '08, to the haunting opera music heard throughout, designed by Christopher Casey, A&S '10.

While the play did follow a basic plot of misunderstandings and grievances, the elements that made Wintertime so appealing were the abstract movement pieces that occurred sporadically through the play. When the son Jonathan, played by Chris Graham, A&S '10, becomes overwhelmed with frustration at the fight he is having with his girlfriend Ariel, played by Kim Foskett, A&S '10, he unravels his scarf in an absurd and almost animal-like manner. Later, when all the lovers become fed up with each other, a blue door is inexplicably wheeled on stage, and the couples start slamming it in each other's faces. Perplexing yet highly enjoyable, these moments reveal a playwright who enjoys catching an audience off guard.

"I like plays that are not too neat, too finished, too presentable," Charles Mee wrote on his Web site, where he posts the full scripts of all of his plays.

Mee's play found its way into the hands of the right director in Engborg, who pulled off this incredibly difficult piece. Engborg said that what attracted her to this particular play was its ability to relate to everyone.

"A lot of the things that they do is abstract but at the heart is raw human emotion," Engborg said.

In her director's note, Engborg writes how she was actually able to meet the famous playwright through professor Scott T. Cummings, assistant chair of the theatre department and author of a book featuring Mee called Remaking American Theater: Charles Mee, Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. Engborg had the exciting opportunity to discuss the play with its creator and get his input on the language and the characters that come out of it.

The actors who performed in Wintertime went above and beyond what one might expect from college theater. Maria, played by Sarah Carter A&S '08, balanced the two men in her life with a sweetness that makes it impossible for the most judgmental among us to fault her. Alexander Hadshi, A&S '09, claimed the audiences' sympathies in his role of Maria's philandering yet charming French lover, Francois. And from the moment Edmund (Steven Conroy, A&S '10) entered the stage, the audience fell in love with his hysterical and yet incredibly heart-wrenching character. During his monologue about being wronged by his lover Frank, played by Ted Moller, A&S '11, one could not help but be torn between uncontrollable laughter and tears. That feeling of real tragedy mixed with outrageous comedy flowed through every action of the play, leaving the audience constantly trying to catch its breath. A new treat to the Robsham stage was John Siravo, A&S '09, playing the well-versed and wise delivery man/deacon Bob who tried to bring some perspective to the family in an academic and amusing way.

The only disappointment of the piece is how underwritten some of the other peripheral characters are. The lesbian neighbors Hilda and Bertha, played by Caitlin Berger, A&S '11, and Sarah Lang, A&S '10, get somewhat lost in the tensions of the family battling. Even the character of Ariel seems to fade from Mee's focus as the other characters grow. Yet the beauty of this play is certainly not found in a realistic plot; on the contrary it is in the craziness, the uncertainty and the possibility of this mad, mad world that lit up Robsham this weekend.