Student plays hold a touch of humor and heart
When Shakespeare wrote that “all the world’s a stage,” who’d have though he meant it so literally?
On Tuesday, Nov. 9, students in David Lancy’s Honors 1320 USU Civilizations and Humanities course performed plays in a casual dinner theater setting. The plays danced around the life and times of ancient civilizations, including China, Rome, Egypt and Greece. After selecting a country, class members wrote a play based on out-of-class research done on their assigned era and country.
The plays often borrowed plot lines from contemporary theater and movies and used them to explain their chosen country.
For instance, Rome used the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” as the basis for their play. In the play, Napoleus falls in love with the beautiful Deb, but she is in a higher social class than he is, so their marriage is impossible, especially when Napoleus fails to prove himself in the army. His upset parents sell him to Rico, a man collecting boys to take into gladiator camp and Deb is forced to marry Kiponeus, unless she can sell enough boondoggle to buy her love’s freedom.
The play also featured hand-written credits and a dance number by Napoleus.
Classmates’ meetings for the production was mostly virtual via the class Web site. They were only required to meet face-to-face a few times. Lancy has been doing this project for six years in his honors class, and while some themes are the same, every year it’s different, he said.
The students had a fun evening eating pasta and salad from USU catering and watching their fellow classmates in their performances.
The group representing Greece featured sheets borrowed from the beds in Snow Hall in their version of the show “Who’s Line is it Anyway?”
Students wore the sheets as togas which were all tie-dyed in bright colors. The show explained that the points given matter about as much as a democratic vote in Utah.
Just as in the television show, players were quick on their toes. When asked to give excuses for not passing a physical fitness test in Sparta, one of the players responded with “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The night was full of comedy and information of the countries selected. China’s production was “brought to you by chopsticks” and featured Barbie as narrator who interspersed the entire production with random facts about chopsticks and interpreting the “ancient Chinese dialogue” spoken.
Without her, no one would have ever known that “ching, ching, chong” really meant “Oh my gosh; I like totally just got shot in the elbow.”
China’s play was based on two star-crossed lovers of the Ping and Pong family. The families were constantly at war, using table tennis paddles as weapons to beat each other.
The Ping woman’s suitor changed his name to Woo to compete for Ping’s love against her other suitor, Obese Suitor Man, who was wearing a giant sumo wrestling suit.
The final contest required Woo and Obese Suitor Man to cook Top Ramen noodles with just a plastic bowl. Even though Obese Suitor Man won, he got so excited that he had a heart attack. Just as in Romeo and Juliet, the Ping and Pong lovers ended up dead.
The theme of the group depicting Egypt was a coming out party for a rich family’s daughter who finally got to wear a wig and go to a banquet as a woman. Her apprehension and protective father showed that there’s a few things that carry through the ages, no matter what dynasty it is. The play ended with a walk-off of the dynasty’s latest fashions.
Lancy doesn’t require the students to be actors, just participate. The plays are not considered a major project and aren’t a major part of the students’ grade, Lancy said.
USU Honors 1320 is taught every fall. For more information, contact the Honors program on the third floor of the Merrill Library annex.
-natandrews@cc.usu.edu
Lincoln Andreasen shows a choice of costumes to Miles Powell during one of four short plays put on by the Honors 1320 class. (Photo by Ryan Talbot)