Southern lacks interesting plays
Mandi Steele

International Editor

What s the deal with Missouri Southern s plays? I don t understand why it is that almost all the plays we have here are so ridiculous. Last semester I took Theatre Appreciation. As every student of Southern knows, we have to take some kind of  appreciation  classes to graduate. It s core; it sucks. However, I didn t think watching a couple of plays would be so bad. Little did I know the plays I d have to see would be so messed up. Does every play have to be about some lunatic, a bunch of crazies or someone very disturbed? I don t see the point.

The Line was the first one I saw. Let me give you the rundown in case you were fortunate enough not to see this thing. There are five characters who, for some reason still unknown to me, are trying to get at the front of a line.  Line to what?,  you might ask. Well, they don t tell you. I don t know, no one knows. It s just a line. Anyway, during this fight to be the first one in line, the only female in line screws almost every guy character. She s married to one of the guys, but he just sits by while his wife screws the other guys. Of course, we don t see her  doing  the guys, but we do get to hear the supposed sounds of her activities while she s behind the curtain with her partner. Now, I know there s supposed to be some  deep meaning  behind The Line, but I really didn t see one, being too distracted by the five characters ranting, raving, screwing and cussing throughout the play.

A student from one of my classes was telling me her parents went with her to see The Line. She said her parents were very upset after watching the play. They wanted to know what kind of college this was that would put on such trash. My parents would ve said worse.

The next one I saw was The Zoo. A psychopath drolls on for over an hour about his life, a dog he tries to kill, his homosexual experiences, and his heterosexual experiences to a guy sitting on a bench who ends up killing him. Now, doesn t that sound like some Saturday night fun! My question is,  Why do we have to watch such crap? 

The plays this semester don t sound any better. Down the Road is about a serial killer. The Birthday Party is about a guy trying to break through a metaphoric womb. I ll let Amy-Nicole Hollenberg, senior theater major, tell you what she told one of The Chart s writers:  Basically,  she said,  it s about a man struggling to retain his authenticity in a world that does not value diversity.  Yeah. This one sounds way better - not.

I would like to add that I have absolutely nothing against the performers of the play. I think they do a wonderful job of acting. I just can t understand why such awful plays are chosen in the first place.