CSC theatre department presents The Pillowman

Sitting in a chair with a black bag on his head, the stage lights pointed on Benjamin Villa. Student director Meghan Hakey said that Villa had been sitting on stage like that for about 20 minutes, which showed dedication to his role as the main character Katurian. The lights then went down and the announcer said, “There will be a gunshot during the play.”

Some people may think that being told there’s going to be a gunshot will ruin the surprise of the play.  Personally, it only makes you think more about when it’s going to happen and increases ones curiosity.

“The Pillow Man” had an amazing plot, great cast, and a lot of emotion. The play is about how a writer named Katurian is being accused of the murder of three children because the murders resemble ones in his stories. We learn that Katurian is innocent of the three murders and that his developmentally challenged brother, Michal, with John Lucas playing the part of Michal perfectly, is the murderer.

Michal killed the children because Katurian wrote of them. Out of anger and love, Katurian then kills his brother and confesses to the police of the murders. There are many more twist and turns to the play.

The cast really brought the play to life. The way that Villa spoke and his mannerisms made you really believe that he was Katurian. Nick Marshall and Justin Gardner made their characters, Detective Tupolski and Officer Ariel respectively, very believable.

When Gardner started to “beat” Benjamin, the audience could really see the emotion in Gardner. Marshall definitely made me laugh when he told the story of the dumb and deaf Chinese boy in China. The story was funny, but it had undertones of seriousness.

My favorite thing about the play was the shadow people. They would act out the stories that Katurian was telling behind a screen and it was an amazing touch. I want to give credit to each shadow actor for their wonderful performance that really brought the side stories to life. The actors included Taylor LeFevre, Michael Tuffy, Cameron Scully, Julie Asta-Ferrero, Sarah LaFleche, Chelsea Smith and Eric Monzel. Last but not least, Hakey did a stupendous job at directing the play.

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