On Stage: Performing Arts at Our Oneonta Campuses by Rachel Frick Cardelle

Play Examines Pro-choice vs. Pro-life

As I mentioned last week, from November 8-12 you have the opportunity to see two very engaging, very different theatrical productions, one at SUNY Oneonta (“All in the Timing”) and the other at Hartwick College (“Keely and Du”). I also brought up that this plethora of performing arts should be no surprise, given that Oneonta was just named number 10 in the country for the most arts-vibrant communities of 2023 in the small-sized community category by SMU DataArts in its 2023 Arts Vibrancy Index. Both of those two sentences bear repeating so, well, I just did. Last week I covered the SUNY O show, so I get to cover the Hartwick production this week.

Published in 1993, “Keely and Du” won both the American Theater Critics Association New Play Award in 1994 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the same year. The writer goes under the pen name of Jane Martin, but who that writer is remains a mystery. The man who has worked most closely with Jane Martin to produce her plays (which are numerous), John Jory, has been quoted as saying the pen name is because, were it known who Jane is, “…whoever writes these plays feels that they would be unable to write them…. ” Watching the show in rehearsal and talking to students and faculty putting the Hartwick College production together, I find it ironic that Jory is probably correct because, as you will see, the students involved in this production believe the show itself offers the message that we can disagree on difficult issues while still seeing and respecting the humanity in one another.

The show opens with the setting up of a room in which Keely will be held prisoner, with Du as her attendant, until Keely’s pregnancy is too far along to allow her to get the abortion she had been seeking. Du is part of a fictitious group called Operation Retrieval that purports to hold pregnant women for their own good so they cannot get an abortion and re-educate them to come to understand why an abortion was a wrong choice from the start. Keely represents an extreme case to them, as her pregnancy happened through rape. Over the course of the show, Keely and Du slowly build a bond, as we meet the pastor in charge of Operation Retrieval as well as the man who raped Keely and has come to repent his actions.

In talking to the students involved in this production, I began by asking what sort of person is going to love this show. There was a long silence and then Sam said, “There is no specific type of person that would love to come and enjoy this show and love this show, but anyone who comes to this show must be able and willing to have deeper conversations. They have to be very mature and understanding, and willing to listen to different sides. And be able to comprehend—not necessarily be able to see from another person’s perspective—but to have a conversation without convicting them or being judgmental toward their side. You just have to be very open and understanding toward everyone’s point of view and how they might have been raised and their beliefs. You need to be open to having that deeper conversation.”

The other Hartwick students in the room felt Sam had offered a response they could all agree with and normally, in writing this column, I paraphrase or only include short quotes. But in this case, Sam’s quote crystalized what I think is one of the most important qualities an educational institution should instill in its members–the ability to really listen to others without being judgmental. Which is not to say without making a judgement about what they have to say.

We moved on to talk about what is challenging about bringing this script to life. Jaylene said that offering the performance in a way that isn’t insensitive to the viewers—given that it includes topics like abortion and rape—as well as working on a personal front to build a connection between the characters had proved challenging.

Hannah felt the fact that the show had no one who was completely wrong or a completely evil villain made it more challenging. Portraying the raw emotions of each of the characters who feels they are doing the best thing from their own perspective, which means keeping her own feelings out of the show, proved to be a challenge for Hannah. One of the hardest things Sam said he has ever done has been portraying the repentant rapist. Having that conversation with himself as an actor, understanding the “why” and “how” of his character and playing that character believably, has proven to be very difficult.

Amber (Keely) shared that her character’s huge fluctuation of emotions and her complex experience falls well outside of Amber’s own experiences, so her challenge has been to calibrate and portray the anger versus sorrow, when she is louder versus softer. She’s had to work on drawing on the rawer places inside herself and, while difficult, that has proven a rewarding chance to step outside her own personal comfort zone.

In discussing surprises in the show Sam, said he was taken aback that while the play happens in the 1990s, the show could largely be read as though it were happening today. Amber’s surprise focused on the connections that happen between Keely and Du, as the two grow close over the course of the show, and that even though the show is full of hard topics and painful moments, this connection is a beautiful thing.

Finally, when discussing what audience members might be thinking about on the way home, Hannah went back to some of what Sam had said at the beginning of the interview and elaborated further. She said, “The reasons that people do things, the reasons people say things, usually means a lot more than what you take it as. Every touch, every word, every syllable can have an alternate meaning, good or bad… I hope, and I think, the lesson is we can’t just judge people based on your first impression of them… I hope we realize people are human and it is not such a black and white world as we think.”

After each show, the director, Malissa, intends to allow time for an audience discussion. This will be a chance for audience members to show the cast and crew members that their message from the play—that one can disagree and yet respect the humanity of those with whom we disagree—has not been lost on us.

You can watch “Keely and Du” in The Lab Theatre in the Bresee Hall basement on Hartwick College’s campus November 8-11 at 8 p.m. for $5.00 general admission and free for Hartwick students, faculty, and staff. Seating is limited and reservations are required at (607) 431-4900 or [email protected]. Parking is available in the visitor’s parking lot behind Bresee Hall. Note: The Lab Theatre is not wheelchair accessible.

You can also watch “All in the Timing” in the Fine Arts Center’s Goodrich Theater on SUNY O’s campus November 9-11 at 7:30 p.m. or November 12 at 2 p.m. for $5.00 general admission, or free with a SUNY O student ID.

Rachel Frick Cardelle covers performing arts at SUNY Oneonta and Hartwick College.