Eugene weekly., March 10, 2016, Page 29, Image 29

T H E AT E R
TRAGEDIES AND
STATISTICS
University Theatre’s Scorched looks
unflinchingly at the side of war we
don’t often see, or want to
C
locking in at nearly four hours, University
Theatre’s production of Scorched is something of
an endurance test, and the stamina it requires is
more than just physical. Bloody and unrelenting,
the play transports the audience front and center
to hell on earth, and its emotional impact is undeniable,
like a seizure of post-traumatic stress that won’t let you go.
Written by Wajdi Mouawad, a Lebanese-Quebecois
playwright whose parents were refugees of the Lebanese
Civil War, Scorched takes a close, almost paralyzing look
at the indiscriminate cycles of violence unleashed by
perpetual warfare. It follows the journey of a pair of twins,
Simon (Alex Mentzel) and Janine (Mallory Oslund), as
they return to their homeland in search of their father.
This journey, however, which trips through time in
flashbacks revealing the nightmarish trials of their
deceased mother Nawal (played at different phases by
Samantha Lee, Jerilyn Armstrong and Mary Unruh), is
more like a descent — a spiraling down into the profound
and insidious human toll of civil war. The explosive
revelation at the end of their quest reverberates like some
cosmic yowl at the endless inhumanity and perversion that
result from centuries of conflict and displacement (the
play’s original title in French was Incendies).
Scorched is directed by Michael Malek Najjar, whose
ALEX MENTZEL AND MALLORY
OSLUND IN UT’S SCORCHED
own family was touched directly by the ongoing Mideast
conflict; his mother worked in a hospital during the 1958
crisis in Beirut, and his Lebanese-born wife experienced
the terrors of shelling as a child. Such intimate knowledge
of nationalist violence informs Najjar’s helming of this
production, which draws the audience into its
claustrophobic grip — seats in the Hope Theatre are pulled
so close they dissolve the fourth wall, and it feels as
though you are a participant in the chaos. When a gun goes
off, you jump. You see the blood ooze down the wall.
And that, in a sense, is the point, and the importance of
this play. It gives a face and a name and a voice to those
faraway statistics — those almost daily body counts — to
which we risk growing numb. In Scorched, the effects of
such violence are immediately discernable at a very
MURDER ON THE MENU
With perfect political timing, a new dinner theater
company brings Murder on the Campaign Trail to town
T
he newly minted Mystery Mayhem Theater Company’s dinner show, Murder on
the Campaign Trail, opens in Springfield this weekend, with a sendup of the
political process and whodunit rolled into one.
The show’s co-producer, Tony Stirpe, cut his teeth on shows like this.
“I had been a working actor in Phoenix, Arizona for many years,” Stirpe
recalls. “It’s not one of America’s cultural centers, but I managed to make a living doing
children’s theater by day and Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre on weekend evenings.”
Flash forward almost five years and Stirpe, a regular performer
on Eugene stages, recognized a satiric void. “And now I’m just
trying to plug it with a bit of what I know best,” he says.
Stirpe’s partner in crime, fellow actor Blake Beardsley, shares
his vision.
“I grabbed Blake and dragged him along with this lunacy,”
Stirpe says, laughing. “We’ve built the company, Mystery
Mayhem, together — and from scratch. And in a very short
amount of time.”
Stirpe wrote the show’s script over a long weekend, he says.
And both men wear many hats.
personal level, as individuals are forced to respond to the
atrocities surrounding them, sometimes monstrously.
At times, the show meanders into strange territory, and
it’s not always effective; the playwright’s exhaustive
efforts to bring home the violence lead him into artsy
passages of fantasia and poetry that tend to jam up the
narrative momentum.
More often than not, however, the production is
riveting. As a piece of confrontational theater, Scorched is
fearless in its determination to gaze without flinching at
the wages of war. It is difficult to behold, and dangerous to
ignore. — Rick Levin
Scorched runs through March 13 at UO’s Hope Theatre; tickets and info
at 346-4363.
“Blake appears as Max Sebastian, campaign manager to Thomas Jerry, running to be
the first Third Senator from Oregon. And I’m directing as well as stage managing the
shows,” Stirpe says.
Mystery Mayhem promises a high level of audience interaction.
“This is environmental theater,” Stirpe says. “There is no stage and there is no
proverbial ‘fourth wall.’ The audience has been invited to a campaign rally and until
tragedy strikes, that’s exactly what they get. By the end of the night they’ll be asked to
help solve the crime and win a prize in the process.”
The performance roster will change over time, Stirpe says, and the producers have
double-cast many of the roles in anticipation of a long run.
“As we open, Blake will be joined by the great Bill Campbell as Thomas Jerry, and
Jennifer Sellers as his wife,” Stirpe says. “We also have Hailey Henderson as the intrepid
journalist. Later, Kathy LaMontagne and Roxanne Fox will join the cast.”
Tickets include a full dinner (with a vegetarian option) and the venue features that most
important inside-the-Beltway landmark: the open bar.
It’s only March, and many of us already suffer from election
fatigue. So as the wangling of this pivotal year ensues, Stirpe is
hoping the show taps into our collective need for a cathartic release.
“Satire is most important in an election year,” Stirpe says. “If
for no other reason than to remind us that there’s supposed to be
a difference between comedy and politics.”
Mystery Mayhem Theater Co.’s Murder on the Campaign
Trail runs 7 pm Fridays and Saturdays, March 12-April 30, at the
Holiday Inn in Springfield, 919 Kruse Way. For tickets, visit
MysteryMayhem.biz or call 844-1450; $39 (including dinner.)
— Rachael Carnes
eugeneweekly.com • March 10, 2016
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