Vaginas won’t be the only body part spotlighted on campus this weekend: Sit & Spin’s “The House of Yes” takes a darker look at cultural obsession, incest and finding love.
“Jackie and Marty belong to each other. Jackie’s hand was holding Marty’s penis when they came out the womb,” says Mrs. Pascal (Communication junior Nicole Pellegrino).
Jackie-O, played by Communication senior Jill Slattery, is the central character in “Yes,” a dark comic drama about an eccentric family, the cultural influences of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and John F. Kennedy, Jr., and the determination to stay afloat amidst chaos.
In the play, the Pascal family gathers at their home for a Thanksgiving celebration that is anything but traditional.
Daughter Jackie-O, obsessed with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, spends her days throwing up her medication, reading books on assassination and watching soap operas on television. She shares an intense — and incestuous — connection with her twin brother Marty (Communication junior Mike Kopera). When Marty brings home a fiance, Lesly (Communication junior J. Lauren Lipp), he shocks his mother, Jackie-O and their younger brother Anthony (Communication freshman Chris Hejl).
“In casting, you never know what kind of combination you’re going to end up with,” says the show’s producer, Weinberg sophomore Caitlan Werner, about the similar appearance of the actors who play the Pascal family. “It’s funny how perfect it ended up, even with looks.”
In this “House of Yes,” the characters are both emotionally and physically spoiled. “‘House of Yes’ is a very intense study of family life,” says producer Werner. “You’re sucked into this warped world and there’s some confusion in the end because you don’t understand how people can actually live a life like this.”
Neither Ludwig nor Werner opted to see the 1997 film version of “The House of Yes,” which was based upon Macleod’s play, starred Parker Posey and was directed by Mark Waters. “Although I chose not to watch the film, I did think about Parker Posey as an actress and how she would play the part,” said Ludwig.
The Kennedy family is a major theme throughout the play. “I was drawn to ‘The House of Yes’ because I was interested in learning more about what caused this national fascination with the Kennedy family,” said Ludwig. “After (JFK) was shot there was this general sense of loss and uncertainty throughout the country.”
She connects these feelings of fear and uncertainty to those felt after the attacks of Sept. 11. “I hope audiences find this show to be an engaging piece of theater,” says Ludwig. “I hope they see the actors throwing themselves into these roles and can see the reasons behind everything that happens throughout the play.”
‘The House of Yes’
What: Sit & Spin Productions’ new play
Where: Foster-Walker east basement
When: tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Friday at 11 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m.
Medill sophomore Rachel Wolff is a writer for PLAY. She can be reached at [email protected].
