A performance that includes topics such as love, anxiety, heartbreak, sex and death by way of poetry, monologues and performance art is not the usual fare at Donkey Coffee, but will entertain the usual coffee crowd Friday night.
Independent student theater group the F-Word Performers will take the stage to present their first show of the semester, It Takes Two to F-Word: F-Word Explores Relationships.
Sara Swartout, codirector of the group and a junior studying playwriting, said that she wants people to come to Friday’s show so audience members can experience a fresh perspective when it comes to relationships.
Becky Markert, a junior studying theater performance, said the group’s idea of what a relationship is evolved as the group started discussing it during meetings.
“I immediately thought of romantic relationships,” Markert said. “We broadened (the show), so more people could relate to the subject and relate to our pieces.”
One section of the show, titled “The V-Word,” is a joint monologue series in which Swartout and Erica Katz, a sophomore studying education, will discuss their thoughts about being a virgin in their 20s.
Katz said that part of the fun of working on the show is seeing the different perspectives that everyone in the group has developed about relationships.
“We were all told the same thing, and none of our pieces are anywhere near each other,” Katz said. “I just think it is cool what everyone does think about our relationships.”
At the end of the performance, audience members will be invited to come back to Kantner Hall with the F-Word Performers for an open mic session during which anybody can discuss the show with cast members as well as share their own work.
“It is not just about our own experience; we don’t have a monopoly on our art,” Swartout said about the open mic. “Everybody has something to say.”
Rachel Weekley, a junior studying theater, said people should come to the show because it is about a topic that has a universal appeal for everyone involved, from the performers to the people in the crowd.
“Our worlds are defined by our relationships to things, which is why I think it is important to do theater about it,” Weekley said. “If we aren’t doing theater about our lives, or about our world, then what are we doing theater about?”
ds834910@ohiou.edu
