Claire wakes up and doesn’t remember who she is or where she is caused by a rare form of psychological amnesia. When Claire’s day is just beginning, she is thrown into a confusing journey of humor and violence and is forced to decide for herself who she can and can’t trust.
Director of “Fuddy Meers” and assistant professor of theatre arts, Jennifer Chapman said she chose the play because of the realistic obscurities that occur in the piece.
“I would call the play a contemporary absurdist piece,” Chapman said. “I chose it also because I think that in the 21st century, some of our most exciting new playwrights are the writers who are finding not just new stories to tell, but new structure to tell within those stories.”
“Fuddy Meers” is a short and modern play taking the main character, Claire, played by senior Ashley Whitcomb, on a journey where she has run ins with interesting characters who don’t all have her best interest at heart.
Some of the interesting characters Claire meets are Millet and Binky, both played by junior Jake Brockmann.
Millet is an escaped convict who splits his personality between himself and his puppet best friend, Binky. While Millet is quiet and shy, Binky is loud and rude and violent.
Brockmann said it has been a new and challenging experience to play a character like Millet, because he had to be almost two separate characters.
“I have to use a puppet throughout the entire show, which is something completely different than what I’ve ever had to do before.” Brockmann said.
The actors had to work on keeping serious on stage and not laugh at the ridiculous things that occur during the play, he said.
“We definitely have to keep the maturity level up on our end as well to be able to say and do all these things,” Brockmann said. “But do it respectfully and not become childish about it.”
The play portrays serious topics, violence and foul language along with ironic humor and Chapman said it is important to state that the play does have mature content. There are words, situations and ironic humor that are directed at an adult audience.
“Some plays we do thinking it will be an important bridge to our community, but this is a show that should really be student- attended,” Chapman said. “It addresses questions that college students should be thinking about.”
One of the best parts of the play so far, Brockmann said, is the cast. The small cast of seven students allows them to be closer and more comfortable around each other, allowing them to focus and perfect their acting choices.
Chapman said the best part has been watching the actors develop the character and understand how to use humor to address something more serious but one of the most difficult parts has the physical demand of dancing, fighting, running and yelling the play requires.
“It’s a really physically demanding play and it is physically exhausting for the actors,” Chapman said. “That is very, very challenging for student actors.”
Another difficult part of the play for the actors and audience is the pace of play, Chapman said. It requires a lot of focus because the jokes and violence and action occur very fast.
Chapman said the play will leave the audience with a question: how might a person might hope throughout darkness?
Fuddy Meers will take place Dec. 9th at 7:30 p.m. and the 10th-11th at 1:30 p.m. in Riverside Theatre in the Haas Fine Arts Center. Tickets are available online and at the University Service Center. They are $12 for the general public, $10 for faculty and staff with a university ID and $4.50 for students with a valid Blugold.
