Student-run play opens four-day run on Dec. 7
From left, Jake DeShiro as Howie, Ethan Clarke as Solomon and Joey Lloyd as Diwata star in Stephen Karam’s “Speech & Debate,” which opens Dec. 7 in J Studio of the Fine Arts Center. (URI Photos/Jesse Dufault)
The University of Rhode Island Theatre Department will
close out the first half of its season with Stephen Karam’s dark comedy “Speech
& Debate,” which opens Thursday, Dec. 7, for a four-day run in the Fine
Arts Center J Studio, 105 Upper College Road.
Set
in the early 2000s, “Speech & Debate” follows three high school misfits in
the conservative community of Salem, Oregon, as they form a speech and debate
club to expose a sex scandal within their school. But that description just
scratches the surface.
“If you read the synopsis, it sounds like a typical high school comedy, but it’s really, really funny,” said director David Weber, a senior physics and theatre major from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. “The writing is so quick, so funny. The characters have such clear voices. It is so intensely powerful and emotional and true to real life, which is not something that you often get with characters this age.”
Weber
discovered the play last summer while reading dozens of works to find one for
this season’s student-run, main-stage production. Many of the plays Weber
looked at missed the mark on how they portrayed the contemporary adolescent
experience. But Karam, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of a Tony
Award, nailed it with “Speech & Debate,” especially in how technology—such
as the internet and podcasts—has drastically changed the high school
experience, Weber said.
The play, which debuted Off-Broadway in 2007, has three main characters with distinct identities—Howie, 18, is an openly gay teen who has moved from the more liberal Portland to the very conservative Salem; Solomon, 16, is an awkward, eager-beaver student reporter; and Diwata, 17, is an aspiring actress with no social cues. Dealing with their own issues and secrets, the trio come together as they learn they are each linked to the sex scandal. As they try to bring the scandal into the light, they create a hilarious musical version of Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” including a time-traveling young Abe Lincoln.
One
of the key messages of the play, said Weber, is that while they may be
considered young, adolescents should be respected for who they are.
“Adults
get this perception that people this age aren’t completely developed, aren’t
able to speak to what they need or what is harming them,” Weber said. “So,
they’re often censored and they’re forced into a mold where they are considered
not old enough or competent enough to provide input.”
The
cast members who play the misfits, not too far removed from high school
themselves, bring a level of truth to the play. “In the table readings, it
became clear that each of these actors have had experiences so similar to these
characters and have been able to bring so much of their own personal experience
into fleshing out these characters and making them three dimensional,” Weber
said. “It’s really fantastic.”
Jake
DeShiro, a freshman majoring in marine biology and theatre, plays Howie; Ethan
Clarke, a sophomore theatre major, plays the awkward Solomon; and Joey Lloyd, a
senior theatre major, plays the loud and opinionated Diwata. Ella Kenny, a
junior theatre major, rounds out the four-person cast, playing roles of a
teacher and reporter.
One
of Lloyd’s favorite parts of the play is how it portrays young people who are
trying to find their way despite the interference of adults and other
kids.
“The
characters find community together because they have no one else they can be
themselves with,” said Lloyd, of Narragansett. “I love how the characters use
humor to work through their pain. It’s very realistic and relatable.”
Over
the one-act play’s 90 minutes, the audience will become connected to characters
who are “very real individuals,” with distinct personalities, said Clarke, of
Seekonk, Massachusetts.
“There
are so many awkward and uncomfortable moments in the show that will make both
the audience and actors cringe,” Clarke said. “While it may seem natural to shy
away from such moments, it is by embracing them and laughing at ourselves and
these characters that we grow and learn.”
Costume
designer EJ Caraveo, a senior theatre major from Tiverton, helps bring out each
character’s individual personality by using different color schemes in the
contemporary clothing each character wears.
“I
had a lot of fun designing this show because of the era the play is set in,”
said Caraveo. “As someone who grew up around this timeframe, it was a lot of
fun looking back at the fashion trends. It was a diverse time in terms of
clothing so it was easy to find styles that fit the characters well.”
Set
designer Kayla Senn, a sophomore theatre major from Long Island, New York, said
the set also helps the actors get into their characters. The play moves quickly
from scene to scene and Senn uses pieces from a standard classroom, helped by
lighting, to create different settings.
For
the cast and crew, Senn said, the show has a special meaning because it is the
academic year’s student-run production, in which students take on all the
on-stage and behind-the-scene jobs—with assistance from faculty where
needed.
“There’s
something really important about the educational and artistic opportunity of
making something on our own,” Weber said. “It’s the application of ideas we’ve
learned rather than being told how to apply the ideas.”
“The
play is literally about young people finding out who they are and trying to
make their mark on the world,” Lloyd said. “The show really speaks to the
younger generation and the struggles and joys we experience.”
Along
with Weber, Caraveo and Senn, the all-student crew includes assistant directors
Jay Moxley and Emersyn Nutting, lighting designer Caoilfhionn Farrell,
assistant lighting director Meghan Turner, technical director Sam Cote, sound
designer Erin Grafing, and production stage manager Theo Fantozzi.
“Speech
& Debate” runs
Dec. 7-9 at 7:30 p.m. and Dec. 10 at 2 p.m. in J Studio at the Fine Arts
Center, 105 Upper College Road, Kingston Campus. Tickets are $10 for the
general public and $5 for senior citizens and URI students, faculty and staff.
Tickets can be purchased online, by
calling (401) 874-5843 or at the box office in Room 101H of the Fine Arts
Center.