Playhouse depicts MTV as ‘Running on Empty*
Mason West for the Emerald
The cast of “Running on Empty” breaks into spontaneous song. Pictured, from left, are Tom Thorson, Darlene
Espinoza-Dadras, Katie McClatchey, Nanda Golden, Lindy Anderson, Noah Smith and, in front, Curtis Williams.
■The final Pocket show of the year
satirizes the network with a comedic
portrayal of an empty reality
‘Runningon Empty’
By Mason West
- for the Emerald
Anyone who has seen the latest ‘N Sync
video, “POP,” knows that the MTV style of
visual presentation has sunk to new lows.
The video besieges your eyes with bright
colors and ludicrous computer effects that
are best reserved for a 30-second commer
cial.
The arrival of this unrelenting video
complements the last Pocket Playhouse
show of the year, “Running on Empty,”
which opens today. University graduate
Heather Meyers, who wrote the show, took
the MTV style and transformed it into live
theater. To bring her show to life, Meyers
passed the torch to graduating senior Greg
Thorson to direct the show and put her
ideas into practice.
The goal of this experiment was not to
make a pop-play, but to poke fun at the
medium for what it has done to society.
The play centers around the creation of
MTV by music producers Tom and Robert.
Tom, played by Tom Thorson, is the man
with the vision but not the morals. He likes
to cheat on his wife, Brooks a would-be pop
star (think Pat Benatar) played by Lindy
Anderson. Robert, played by Curtis
Williams, is the reluctant one who finds
the talent and tries, unsuccessfully, to do
the right thing.
Just before the birth of the new station,
Tom cheats with Lila, another would-be
pop star played by Katie McClatchey. He
seduces her with the promise of a record
ing contract, but then in true Milli Vanilli
form, he only uses her voice and puts a
pretty face in the video. During this time,
Lila is involved with Ben (Noah Smith), a
reluctant man who also tries, equally un
successfully, to do the right thing.
These character parities are not coinci
dental — the similarities go so far as to re
peat dialogue from earlier segments but
by different characters. While this is con
fusing at first, it proves to be an effective
way to show connections in how the char
acters feel.
Another confusing aspect of the play
are the presences of Gwen and Ellis.
Played respectively by Darlene Espinoza
Dadras and Nanda Golden (that’s a guy),
the two are like archetypal angel/devil
characters who try to influence the char
acters. The audience will wonder where
they came from and what they're really
doing, but on a superficial level, they pro
vide rare comedic entertainment in the
show.
The best parts of the play are dialogue
montages between the characters. They
will be carrying on separate conversations
but the portions that are voiced to the au
dience flow together. One character picks
up where the last left off and the broken
fragments fit together to create one con
tinuous story. This is when the meaning
of the play is best conveyed because the
individual trains of thought that make up
the larger story are lost. Society has be
come so accustomed to dealing with
quick changes that keeping up with many
is easier than following just one.
At the celebration of the birth of MTV,
Tom says, “With MTV, everybody wins.”
These words justify the play’s title; they
are empty. Even though this play leaves
audiences confused, that confusion will
invite them to think more about the way
they process stories and information. The
desired effect is to slow people down
enough to realize that they have been
pushing on blindly without fuel.
“Running on Empty” runs in full today,
Friday and Saturday at 5 p.m. in the Pock
et Playhouse.
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