For its first show of the year, Vertigo Productions premiered the student-written play “If The Earth Were Flat” on Friday and Saturday at Shanley Pavilion.
Vertigo is the only theater group on campus fully dedicated to producing original student work; its fall show attracts new students to join for the winter and spring seasons.
“If The Earth Were Flat,” written by Communication junior Eliza Huang, centers around a couple who imagines exploring the edge of a flat Earth. The play reflects Huang’s experience as an international student.
“Coming here, there’s so many new things and there’s all these shows happening, and I don’t know what I should do,” Huang said.
The couple in the play, Ashley and Tony, attempts to settle down after years of traveling. Ashley proposes they role-play as explorers navigating the edge of a “flat Earth” to cope with her increasing discomfort in their new home — similar to something Huang said they did in their first months at NU.
The actors playing Ashley and Tony spend much of the show in silence, reacting as two other actors deliver lines as their role-play characters.
“It was interesting to see those choices manifest, nonverbally on stage, or even when we were watching a castmate act out our crazy play fantasies,” said Communication senior Orville Amankwah, who played Ashley.
The “play fantasies” ranged from a man throwing objects off the edge of the Earth to a butcher and his beloved pet cow to a character tossing rice into the crowd.
These extreme role-play characters served a purpose, said show director and Communication junior Felix Gaddie.
“I was like, ‘Let’s have these two role-play characters be really farcical,’” Gaddie said. “That helps us kind of get to the beat of truth, which is that sometimes it’s really painful and uncomfortable, but I think we all kind of find our home at Northwestern, it’s just a different experience for all of us.”
Cast and crew members said they had found home in this production, including Communication sophomore Finn Callander, who played Tony.
Callander said he particularly prized the moments getting into character with his castmates during the final week of rehearsal. He said their connections improved a play that already left much room for experimentation.
“If this was Shakespeare, people would have expectations for what Shakespeare’s gonna be. But people came into this with no expectations,” Callander said. “And we got to meet them where they were.”
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— Vertigo Productions’ senior project ‘CRAVE’ navigates grief, writing and mental health
— Annual Vertigo Productions series showcases three student-written plays
