1989_04 The Daily Collegian April 1989

              The Dally CoUegian
Thursday. April 27,1989
Page 3
Moody play exposes punk scene
Drugs, death shown by CSUF students in dark presentation*see HERESY
By Sieve Leone
Special to the Collegian
Vintage Days has many offerings on
campus this week, but none offer tbe
fresh alternative of CSUF student Linda
Abrahamian's pjay*j« HERESY. With
a mixture of religious hypocrisy and punk
rock tension, Linda's play delivers a
Review
message of life within a dark atmosphere
of death, a message of rebirth and change.
This mood is pulled off in direction by
Theo A. Sofianidcs, who also co-produced
the play with Abrahamian.
The play centers on the death of a
punker chick, the former leader of a band
named*** HERESY (hence the title). In
a gripping prologue sequence, we witness
Hellen Moraili O.D. on heroin and die,
alone. A strobe Light flashes, she ties up
her arm, taps her veins, sonorous music
plays in the background, she shoots up
three times, the lights fade and she dies.
Lydia Fortner, who plays Hellen,
makes it all look horrifyingly realistic.
It's a real intense moment, and the rest of
the action in the play conveys the effect   /•
of her death on her three friends: Art,
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
layout of the KKK opposing
homosexuality; I bet these things also
aren't considcfed racial violence in your
book. Who ever said racial violence had
to be physical? If this note-writng bigot
hi«d a point to get across unaimed at racial
violence why couldn't he/she too write
Dynah and Hobbit.
This is a punk play with an anti-drug
message. Art was the fust in the group to
go straight, and clearly the action in the
end indicates that Dynah the pothead will
soon follow suit. However, this is
anything but "Just Say No" propaganda
The events in the play are harshly
realistic, and profanity is used loosely and
widely throughout.
—There is a violent edge terthe punk   — i
movement, and Abrahamian draws upon
this to present her work. Sonianides
directs the action successfully with this
tension as well, which is deliciously
accented by minimal and moody slow-
punk musical sounds from such bands as
Joy Division, Christian Death and
Siouxsie and the Banshees. The sparse
stage setting also adds to the overall
murky presentation and mood of the
piece.
The atmosphere of death is evident
throughout, as in the first scene where
Deborah Rankin as Dynah Cancer gives a
shocking and revealing perfonnance as
Hellen's bitter friend Dressed in leather
lingerie, she stalks alone in a monologue
while readying herself for Hellen's fun¬
eral. This scene, one of many in the play
which stimulate an emotional response,
gives one an electrifying sense of voyeur¬
ism and guilt—we feel caught behind the
about it in the Collegian for all to view
and express their feelings on the issue, in
spite of unconventional methods? I wish
first you'd try to "walk in others
moccasins," then maybe you wouldn't
lUSa what you can't understand. Bravo
Larry Hobson, co-chair of the Rainbow
Coalition. I favoi a tough penalty for so-
called angry bigots. (And that's that).
La Shawn
r AKA Speedy
couch watching her every move.
The next scene takes us out in front of
the church, a superior church—the
Superior Memorial. Ironic. The three
friends gather there, Dynah, Art arid
Hobbit, and their interaction is fierce and
stabbing, like the many needles lhat
killed Hellen. Dwain Zack, as Art, is the
fiercest of the three in presentation, and
he is at his best rhythmically when he
cranks out his4ine&in anger,	
The standout perfonnance in the play,
though, is by Tom Houseman as the
realistic punk junkee Hobbit He absorbs
the character naturally and ellicits the
most laughter from the audience. His
lines are the best, too, including one
which follows as the play's ending moral,
perhaps: "Don't get lost in the fog."
Houseman's blend of static laughter and
insane quips shape the realism of the
play. Ironically though, the character's
own sense of reality and confidence in his
life give him a sense of leadership in the
play, which adds to a displacement away
from the ami-drug message; he is "a
junkie who will die a junkie," not one
who should be given the leader's role.
This role should have been conveyed
more strongly by Zack as Art.
In the second act, the play moves into
the church itself, and it's hell, anarchy to
say the least. In this scene, the realism of
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the harsh punk lifestyle meets thc
hypocrisy of fire-and-brimstonc religious
preaching.
Eric Wheeler as the Reverend carries
die air of self-righteousness very
successfully. When he ran into the
audience to make his point, one attending
indiv:dual cussed back at him and even
flipped him off.
Indeed, the Reverend has an addiction
comparable to Hobhit'sJigroiiLaddiction; _
religion. The movement of the play
demonstrates effectively the sclf-
destructivencss of both; however, the
sccn?.of preaching was a little long, and
because of this, oveneached its
affectiveness.
The extras in the play, Caryn Machado.
Ma-y Halliscy and Angela Armstrong for
er.ample, complement the harsh texture of
the rest of the performance, and add to the
overall punk rock atmosphere.
The motifs in thc play center around
Dynah and so does the conflict. Rankin
shoulders this burden well in her s
perfonnance, and the last scene conveys
this when the moufs of rain as a relief
from mourning and thc anti-drug message
are resolved with Dynah's crying in the
rain sans poL It's a successful piece of
writing.
*see HERESY runs today at 4 p.m. in
Lab School 101. Admission is free.
Man BEFORE
reading Leone column
Man AFTER
reading Leone column
Steve Leone—every Friday in the Collegian, because you owe it to yourself
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