Quite An Impact; Pizza. Beer. Plays

See How We Are
by John Tracy
Presented by Impact Theatre

To put it bluntly, this weekend was marked by a sensational, contemporary interpretation of the Sophocles' Greek Classic, Antigone, the third of his Theban plays. As I approached the event, I wasn't sure what to expect from my Play Creation teacher's Berkeley-based theatre company, the aforementioned Impact Theatre. When I first met Melissa Hillman, the now Artistic Director of Impact Theatre, she convinced me that she was a Trekkie with a PhD in Dramatic Art. As she directed our show this summer, she proved herself to be a worthy contender in the world of theatre. Without a doubt, despite the fact that the show was directed in itself by Jon Tracy, the artistic vision of Melissa Hillman was spectacularly displayed through her experience with creating a world in and of itself.

Despite the fact that Impact Theatre itself is situated directly underneath La Val's Pizza joint, the 60-seat theatre is a magical space, complete with a VIP couch that fits a very snug group of five teenagers. Through the talent of Impact as a whole, belief is suspended, and the haunting possibility of apocalypse in modern Thebes lingers even in the mind of the weariest of theatergoers. Running up a hill from Downtown Berkeley in order to arrive in time, I honestly had no clue what I was rushing into. As the theater threatened to give my six-foot-two self a concussion if I dared stand up too fast, the cramped-yet-cozy atmosphere seemed to lend itself to the fact that blood was being spilled on the streets of Thebes. Whitewashed in all its dark glory, the barely 12 feet by 6 feet space was given the bare essentials that were needed to turn a cellar into a clean chamber. With a table situated in the near center of the space, actors maneuvered their way in and out of two doorways, with all sight lines blocked appropriately. Moments even arose where the cast would exit by walking out into the dark space that the audience resided in. Despite the fact that a support beam stood in the very center of the whole space, Impact Theatre has proven its ability to work around the obstacles that come with space and budget limitations, something which likely comes from the fact that it has been performing in the same cramped space for the past thirteen years.

The table itself was attached to the floor by hinges so that a living room could be turned into a pristine white battle field in seconds, as actors lifted chairs onto hooks on the wall, hid behind the table itself when not needed, or simply took on a blank stance and expression as they listened to the broken words of Thebes' new monarchy. One of the more intriguing aspects of the performance was the interpretation of the original text itself. The play, in itself, was almost completely transposed from its original state into an even more unfamiliar form as Antigone becomes a rebellious Ari and all the other characters are lost for the sake of maintaining the feel of a modern context. Ari's sister Izzy finds herself dating a punk-rock club manager named Jud who is looking for a chance to bring down the Banks family's very establishment itself. Brothers James and Paul come to agree on a system of government where the two brothers will switch off their rule of the government annually. Ari's lesbian lover, Hayl, finds herself as the most sensible of the whole cast, but meets an untimely end by her own hands, complete with a splatter of fake blood across the wall of Impact's small, subterranean theatre. In itself, the plot consists of a very bare handful of scenes, but through Jon Tracy's incredible organization, the scenes are broken apart and interrupted by each other and the frightening sounds of Thebes' "broken speakers" that still speak the "word of god" to the impoverished people of modern Thebes. The very presence of Ari's father (an assumed Oedipus) is intriguing in itself, and in context created thoughts remeniscent of Stalin's Pravda and the Oppressive Propaganda of Nazi Germany.

Without a doubt, the production was as dark as it possibly could be, for being placed on a pure white stage, with the actors themselves in completely white costumes, remeniscent of Nazi military outfits, HAZMAT suits, and tanktops mixed with combat boots, suspenders and white cargo pants. Even Izzy's white dress seemed like more of a uniform than a piece of sophisticated apparel. Void of any apparent stage makeup, the actors are placed in front of the audience in all of its realistic glory. The initial vision becomes clear at the very end of the first act as blood pours down from the ceiling and onto the white table, splattering across the actors and even, in sparse portions, onto the audience themselves. (Thankfully, I was wearing a red shirt.) The presence of this blood was perhaps made even starker by the fact that the actors would later perform the rest of the scenes in the same attire. The "impact" itself truly came about as the plot was brought back to the scene that supposedly marks one of the first scenes, chronologically, of the plot itself. As the family sits around a table grilling Izzy's new boyfriend, the moments suddenly become more serious as Paul intimidates Jud with his face covered in blood.

Past costume and make-up, however, is perhaps the most intriguing design aspects of the production. Light and sound. Without a doubt, the sound design of Colin Trevor was genius at the very least. Playing with sounds of white noise and the ominous voiceovers of Sarah Coykendall and Andrew Grzekoviak, Trevor was perhaps the very creator of the world itself. Out of the many productions I have attended, never has sound design and music contributed so heavily and played such an important and influential role in a performance. The sound design in itself is not even particularly overpowering, but in that, the sound was executed magnificently, and to a level never before heard in any theatre I have visited. Used as a means to transition and command scenes, Colin Trevor's design was excellently executed, especially in collaboration with Jon Tracy's lighting design. At any moment where the scene would change, whether it was being brought into the future or back into the past, the speaker would sound, and the lights would flash like strobe lights, using both a lack of light and the presence of tint-less or blue-tinted lights. Even the speaker sounds itself would interrupt the words of a conversation without any care for the dynamic of the scene, in a nearly Brechtian manner, as if the interruptions and scene changes were all meant as a way to force the audience to remove themselves from the situation of the characters themselves. To put it bluntly, when arriving at such a conclusion, I must say that See How We Are succeeded in doing just that. Just as one began to feel comfortable with the pace of a scene, it would be harshly interrupted and brought into a new scene with a completely different dynamic. In the end, it left me, in particular, being completely left to myself to consider the themes and importance of the production itself. War, revolution, and the very loss of life and youth itself became insistent in my mind, as images of young children carrying guns continued to force itself into my imagination.

On the brink of apocalypse, See How We Are brings Modern Thebes to life and allows the audience to watch as chaos bursts into the cramped cellar of a Bay Area pizza joint.

Cast of See How We Are:
Jud - Rob Dario
Hayl - Jacqueline Haines
Izzy - Sarah Mitchell
Ari - Kendra Lee Oberhauser
James - Ryan Tasker
Paul - Seth Thygesen
Voiceovers by
Sarah Coykendall
Andrew Grzekoviak

Crew of See How We Are:
Stage Manager - Sarah Coykendall
Assistant Stage Manager - Joshua Hardwick
Graphic Designer - Cheshire Isaacs
Fight Director - Dave Maier
Costume Designer - Virginia Thorne
Director/Scenic Designer/Lighting Designer - Jon Tracy
Sound Designer - Colin Trevor