The floor is splattered red. Purple brushes the walls. A green and gold log cabin is projected onto either side of the audience as ushers urge them to sit close to their neighbors. Spectators are placed facing each other, leaving a large space in the middle of Spingold Theater Center's Merrick Theater and smaller paths behind the rows of chairs. A green and orange log cabin is projected on the wall, welcoming everyone in. Most notably, Zada Amata Eshun '14 lies sleeping with one eye open, staying strikingly still for nearly 20 minutes. The lights go down, and projectors flash words across the wall of the theater. The show begins.

In November 2002, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks was inspired to begin a project that would take her on a yearlong journey. For the sake of refining her artistic process and the challenge of being mentally and emotionally present while creating, Parks wrote a play a day from Nov. 13, 2002 until Nov. 12, 2003. Her endeavor was then published in the book 365 Days/365 Plays, a portion of which was presented by the Brandeis Theater Company this weekend.

In her program note, visiting director Akiba Abaka, who is the audience development manager at Emerson College, said she chose to perform 24 of Park's plays centered around the themes of love, war and Abraham Lincoln, which "are representational of the internal and external struggles that color our world ... Each play is meant to be experienced on its own as a separate and complete story and they are arranged to be experienced as one narrative image." Drawing from Operation Iraqi Freedom, a conflict that occurred during the writing of the plays, Abaka molds her compilation of Park's work using the experiences of war veterans.

The play featured 13 actors from both the graduate and undergraduate programs. It was almost entirely an ensemble production, with the exception of actors Nicole Dalton M.F.A. '14 and Brandon Green M.F.A. '14, both of whom excelled in their respective portrayals of the Mother and Father in the plays' "Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1-6)." They faced the task of portraying a family torn apart by war with compassion, understanding and professionalism.

What was most remarkable about the performing in this production was the physicality of the actors. In some scenes, the players had little to no dialogue to rely on but had to use their bodies to communicate. Even when a scene was heavy with dialogue, the actors were crisp and meaningful in their movements. Whether it was digging a hole, climbing back home through the wind, a progression of kisses, rolling across the room into a pile of bodies, dancing or even standing in solemn stillness, the cast perfected their actions. Due to its experimental quality and the constantly changing characters in 365, it was important for the actors to be physically grounded in the material, strengthening their connection with the audience.

Every corner of the theater was used in the production. The audience was brilliantly placed to look at each other, strengthening the collectivity experienced throughout the play. Even the walls were used, portraying words, pictures and backdrops to express the setting of the changing locations. Each began with the name of the scene and the date it was written scrolled across the room. Afterward, they were filled with whatever the scene called for: candles, letters, wallpaper-like patterns, faces, text, etc.

Besides the clever use of projections, characters were often seen using other technology, such as cell phones. At one point, the company paraded on stage while texting-Shaquan Perkins '14 even shouted "selfie!" as he twisted and turned his phone. Later on in the scene, a family faced the task of killing their son due to what they perceived to be God's plan. As they argued over the right thing to do, hashtags reading phrases like "#Godisneverwrong" and "#killhim" appeared on the wall. Tension arose because of the seriousness of the situation juxtaposed with the casual modernity the hashtags represented, making the stakes of the actors' interaction even higher.

Although the material became muddled at times due to its abstractedness and experimental nature, the creative team portrayed moving topics in a brilliant and heartfelt matter. 365 Days/365 Plays stood out as a unique and masterfully produced production, and was surely one of Brandeis' best productions of the semester.
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