Daring Drama

The latest production to grace the Hartmann Center’s stage is the powerful and impressive “Extremities.”

At the center of the brutal drama is Marjorie, played perfectly by senior Tiffany Albers-Lopez. With disheveled hair and smeared makeup, Albers-Lopez commands the stage.

Following a wasp sting on the front porch, Marjorie douses the bug with insecticide and burns the creature in an ashtray. Not long after the wasp attack, another creature ready to hurt Marjorie appears on the porch. A young man enters the house and claims to be looking for a friend named Joe. The man, who has an eerie saunter and obvious sexual motives, is portrayed by fantastic Joseph Majestic. Marjorie tells him no man named Joe lives in the house and her nonexistent husband will be downstairs shortly. It becomes clear to Marjorie the man plans to harm her. With a few sudden moves, the man overpowers Marjorie.

But it’s not long before Marjorie turns the tables on the assailant. She plays along with his sick fantasies before blindfolding, gagging and knocking him unconscious.

Fight choreographer George H. Brown makes ample use of the actors’ talents and the excellent stage and props designed by Erich Keil. The two actors wrestle on stage with extension chords, pillows and a fireplace poker. As the intensity continues, Majestic and Albers-Lopez fall deeper into their characters. Majestic, in particular, proves his skill as an actor. He has a seemingly innate ability to make the audience laugh one minute and absolutely hate him the next.

But Albers-Lopez carries the majority of the emotion. She is strong and resilient, even in the face of her attacker. After the physical sparring ceases, verbal combat continues. The man taunts and teases Marjorie until she snaps.

At the crescendo of the drama, Marjorie’s roommates return to the ravaged home and traumatized victims. The two roommates, Paige Miller-Morand and Jenn Fliehler, provide a sense of comic relief and a welcome reprieve from the tense wordplay.

Miller-Morand is fantastically funny and altogether heartbreaking as Patricia. She wavers between compassionate and disbelieving, as Marjorie relays the events of the day. Wanting to believe her friend and roommate proves to be a much larger struggle than one would imagine.

Fliehler, on the other hand, is forgettable as Terry. Her performance lacks the intensity of the other three actors. It’s as if the action of the play surrounds her without involving her.

The production is filled with edgy twists and turns, carefully constructed by scribe William Mastrosimone and orchestrated on Bradley’s stage by director Steve Snyder.

The timeliness of the work is stressed in the dramaturgical and director’s notes. The scope is wider than an attempted rape and its aftermath. The play explores the overall effects of violence. “Extremities” is a highly effective and formidable drama – a must-see.