The School of Theater will kick off its year with playwright Rebecca Gilman's poignant 2001 play Blue Surge, opening at 8 tonight at the Forum Theater.
The play is about cops Curt and Doug and their relationships with prostitutes Sandy and Heather.
Curt, the main character played by graduate student Scot West, is poor and unhappy with his life when he meets Sandy, played by senior Lindsay Fisher, in a massage parlor that his department is investigating.
Curt's partner Doug, played by graduate student Jarad Benn, pursues a relationship with Heather, a prostitute played by senior Katie Reed.
We have your basic archetypes of cops and prostitutes
but it's not really about cops and prostitutes. (The play) shows them as human beings said director David Haugen, a performance professor of theater.
One of the major themes of the play is the question of whether people are products of their environment or if they can use free will to change their lives, Benn said.
I don't know if I want the audience to answer that question for themselves but I think it would be nice for us to be able to give them the opportunity to explore that question
he said.
While the play has some edgy components such as full-frontal male nudity in the second scene, there are not many special effects often associated with modern plays, Haugen said.
It's what I would call an 'actor's play.' G? It's about the work between the people on stage. And it's very challenging for student actors; it has just been a great workout for them
Haugen said.
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Curt, played by Scot West, argues with his onstage fiance Beth, played by Katie Tolerton, in a scene from Blue Surge. Performances will be held at the Forum Theater in the RTV building at 8 p.m. Oct. 15-18 and 22-25.
