Westmont, UCSB Theater Go Into the Woods and the Water
In the Red and Brown Water, The Insect Comedy Premiere on February 27
Men are gods; men are beasts. Both metaphors bear the ring of truth, depending upon which aspects of human life you focus on, and both have been used by great writers to help us understand our own baffling behavior. Joseph Campbell argued we should study the gods of ancient mythology since we so often act in ways that mimic the patterns they set millennia ago. More pessimistic thinkers suggest that, at our core, we have never truly risen above the instinct-driven impulses of our ancestors further down the evolutionary ladder. These themes — which aren’t necessarily in conflict with one another — will be brought to vivid life in two theatrical productions opening Friday night on area campuses.
Tarell McCraney’s In the Red and Brown Water, a new play that finds mythic resonance in contemporary characters, will be staged at UCSB. The Insect Comedy, a nearly century-old Czech play in which human behavior is compared to that of ants, bees, and flies, will be produced at Westmont College. For all their differences, both works eschew realism for a heightened theatricality, and both invite us into exotic worlds that gradually reveal their similarities to our own.
“It is our nature that we wear these archetypes,” declared Shirley Jo Finney, who is directing the UCSB production. The Los Angeles–based director knows the work well: She staged it at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood to critical acclaim in 2012.
