Imagine being trapped in a room with three other people you hate and no way out. There are no doors, no windows just never-ending time with people you despise. That is the premise of “No Exit” a play directed by theatre teacher, Anthony Coffield. The show will premiere at 6 p.m. on November 2 and run until November 4. Students can purchase tickets both at the door or online for $8. Adult tickets cost $10.
“No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre, tells the story of three damned souls: Garcin, Inez and Estelle.
“[The characters are] brought to the same room in hell by Valet,” said Joshua Littau, who plays the role of Valet. “They expect medieval torture devices to punish them for eternity, but instead find a plain room. None of them want to admit the reason they are there, and find out that the real hell is other people.”
According to Coffield, this is the first drama the theatre department
has done since it was reintroduced at Spring Valley two years ago.
“[It is] full of drama and is different because the actors get deeper into character by channeling all the right emotions and movements that make the viewers think about their doing,” Cof- field said.
The play is meant to be philosophical and make people think about what they have done in life.
“[It] Gives the sense of people being trapped with people they can’t stand, people they don’t like talking to. “[It] Gives a look at society that kids don’t see nowadays,” Coffield said. “Basically saying, I hate the system and I want to see some- thing that also hates the system.”
Those who have never seen a performance at Spring Valley should expect a great amount of drama and technical skill on the stage. Coffield was inspired to produce ‘No Exit’ when he saw the play a few years ago. He said he liked how dra- matic it was, and wanted to spice things up in the SV theatre department
by trying a new genre. “Since this is some- thing that takes a whole lot of dedication and hard work you have to handle the deadlines by going to rehearsal, studying and remember- ing lines each night to make more progress than the last,” said Littau. “Stress will come but it’s just something you have to deal with. Competing for roles takes showing off your 100 percent true acting skill at an audition as well as knowing what the director wants to see
fro a certain roles.”
Faith Stratton, who
plays the role of the recorder explained how she handles stress and competing for roles.
“I handle the stress of competing for roles by remembering that Cof- field is a professional in this field, and if he sees me in a part he will cast me because he knows and has seen my capa- bilities,” she said.
“If you don’t make the play it’s really upsetting, but just remember he has lots of kids and the ones he sees in the show are the ones he is going to cast.”
