Buried deep in the Meadows School of the Arts building, a sizeable and rowdy crowd congregated in a small studio late Friday night.
In keeping with tradition, the show started late, but this did not discourage the audience who had piled onto the blue floor mats and into a handful of chairs to see SMU Theater’s answer to the dance department’s Brown Bag series, “Buffet version 5.01: Momma Done Brung Home the Snake.”
After what sophomore theater major Michael Yeshion described as “five rehearsals of emotionally-exhaustive text analysis,” the six productions of the night came together successfully.
The opening scene, “Dark Room,” was co-written and performed by Mikal Evans. In the scene, Evans portrayed a developmentally retarded young woman whose inner thoughts were trapped within her.
Although Evans didn’t set the overall tone for the evening, her scene set a high standard for the other talented actors.
Matt Nitchie introduced the first of many scenes to involve dark-humor. “The Last Clown” depicted a tormented and suicidal clown, scarred by childhood beatings from his father and a wife who had left him for a mime. The frequently dry humor captured the audience, despite the serious topic.
The “Buffet” show had its share of sexual innuendo. “Call Me Al” was a bright and vibrant turn from the dark qualities of the first two performances. Dressed as a beatnik and performing his poetry with background bongo thumps, E.H. Macgregor roused the audience with his rhyming rage and shock value “love” poem.
On a more dramatic note, Yeshion and Walter White III enacted the turmoil of a man faced with death and his barter with a higher power. It questioned morals and toyed with the consequences of changing fate.
“Untitled” continued the serious tone until the final scene, when “Anonymous” offered a lighthearted scene with offbeat humor. Set at a ‘Social Disorders Anonymous’ meeting, the audience chuckled as a string of characters realized they had entered into the wrong room. As the structure of the meeting broke down, the scene paralleled the movie Fight Club. Matt Humphrey and Byron Melton’s characters finally broke down the session leader and leapt chairs while running out of the room to cause chaos in another group-therapy meeting that night.
First-year theater major Rob VanGuelpen said the performances were “professionally done, with lots of energy and good material.”
Cast members themselves seemed pleased with their efforts. Senior theater major, Korey Kent, felt that the ensemble quality of “Buffet” made it more exciting than big-budget productions.
“If the joy, excitement, and passion [of “Buffet”] could be transferred to the main stage, [all of SMU’s theater students] would be incredible artists,” Yeshion said.
