In the first act of Cloud 9, a white actor plays a black servant, a man plays a mother and a doll serves as the daughter.
“It illustrates how difficult it may or may not be to be what people expect of us,” said Ryan Holihan, a second-year graduate director who is the director of the show. “What people are on the outside might not always match who they are on the inside.”
The play, written by Caryl Churchill, focuses on colonialism, sexual politics, and gender roles and asks what lengths people will go to in order to reach their own “cloud nine.”
In Cloud 9, actors play two to three roles and actually switch roles from the first act to the second. Along with the character changes is a jump in time, with the setting going from 1880 to 1980; however, for the characters that remain the same through the second act, only 25 years have passed. Holihan said the time lapse is used to contrast the sexual repression of the Victorian Era with the sexual freedom of the ‘80s.
Holihan said Churchill’s play is a “masterpiece” but said because of the subject matter, it’s not produced often, which may be because people are only reading it.
“Your brain doesn’t quite click when you just read it,” he said. “You read it and think it’s difficult and political, but it really isn’t. It really says something quite simple and beautiful.”
The simple message is that people should be accepting of themselves and of others — even “the good, the bad and the ugly,” said Greg Atkin, a senior studying global studies and theater performance.
The surrealistic elements of the show — the time jump and character switches — are a perfect match for the curriculum requirements of the second-year graduate students studying directing. During their three-year program, the directors have one funded project per year.
The first year involves the realism project, which is simple and rooted in reality; the second year is the style project, which allows for surrealism and imagination; and the third is a full main stage production — the shows most Ohio University students are familiar with as the main shows the Division of Theater produces each academic year.
As they advance, the directors face more responsibilities such as increased budgets, larger casts, heightened language and more complicated design situations. The progression allows the directors to focus on different things each year.
“There’s a progression each year where they focus on different things and have ever-increasing levels of challenges and difficulties,” said Dennis Delaney, head of the professional director training program. “You wouldn’t start someone learning how to play the piano with a Beethoven sonata.”
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If You Go:
What: Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: The Forum Theater, Radio and Television Building
Admission: Free; make reservations by emailing a given date and number of tickets to free@ohio.edu (an open forum for discussion will take place after the show on Thursday; total capacity is limited to about 60 seats each night)
