Remember that guy from your English class, senior year of high school? The one that didn't apply to colleges and hung out with those slightly sketchy kids? The one that you could always find in the 7-Eleven parking lot on a Friday night? Everybody knew someone from that crowd, but no one has any idea what happened to him. Maybe he's pumping gas at Getty or attending Bay State College.
Or maybe he's still there in the parking lot. That's where Eric Bogosian's subUrbia picks up the trail. Tufts' production of subUrbia, directed by senior Gillian Sembler, opens tonight in the Balch Arena Theater. It is the latest incarnation of the "Freshman Show," in which all acting and behind-the-scenes work - besides direction - is done exclusively by freshmen.
subUrbia follows six kids who attended the same high school, and who, for the most part, haven't found much else to do ever since. Sooze (Lily Ladewig) wants to go to New York to be a performance artist, but despite her big talk, she has no idea what a performance artist is. Buff (Nichola Sabloff), the perennial pothead, has no ambitions beyond his next bag, while crazed veteran Tim (Graham Griffin) seems determined to vent his temper. And who's the most hopeful of the group? There's BeeBee (Melanie Kahn), who doesn't do any drugs at all, and Jeff (Josh Bauml), who wants to better himself somehow, but can't find a way to get out of the hometown scene.
The starkest exception in the group is Pony (Taylor Shann), the geeky guy who went off and became a rock star. Much of subUrbia follows the other five, who wait for Pony to return home so they can see what he's made of himself. And, of course, he comes right back to the parking lot of the convenience store, where the whole crowd is predictably stationed - much to the chagrin of store owners Norman (Robert Curry) and Pakeesa (Nora Merbaum).
Maybe these people pissed you off in high school, or maybe you were these people. The characters seem comical, but subUrbia is a rather pessimistic view of the potential of misguided teens. Everyone abuses one another, no one learns from his or her mistakes, and though they all think they're right, all of them really have no idea what they're talking about.
They all have their stories, but what makes the people of subUrbia so forceful on stage is the fact that their characters are so real. These are personalities that you know from your hometown, even ones that you can see walking around campus every day. In fact, these people so closely resemble the average denizen of Boston that it's hard to tell if the actors are even in character. Sooze, Jeff, Buff, and the rest could all be people snatched straight from that parking lot, taught their lines, and thrown on stage - which is a testament both to the actors' abilities to immerse themselves in the roles and to Bogosian's astute writing.
With free admission and plenty of buzz surrounding it, subUrbia is sure to draw a crowd. Set aside some intellectual time for yourself tonight or tomorrow: this is not a light-hearted, comedic romp. There's drinking and drugs and a half-dozen unhappy people. Go in with the right mindset, though, and things should work out fine. Expect some heavy thinking and a dark night to follow subUrbia - it is well worth it.
