The University of West Georgia’s Theatre Company will debut their first play of the spring season called Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka. The play will be performed Feb. 25-28th in The Townsend Center, New faculty member, Adriano Cabral, was asked to direct the play after joining the UWG Drama Department last fall.
“The play is filled with multiculturalism,” said Cabral. “It’s a rich story about finding yourself in the midst of chaos.”
The play follows a boy named Anon, who traveled by boat to America with his mother in search of a new life. En route to the United States, Anon’s boat is ship wrecked and as a result of the accident Anon loses his memory.
“As a result of the wreck Anon doesn’t remember his own name and is separated from his mother,” said Cabral. “He spends most of the play trying to recollect who he is and his identity.”
Anon(ymous) is a modern re-telling of Homer’s famous narrative poem “The Odyssey.” Along Anon’s journey he meets many character with a variety of backgrounds and cultures.
Cabral designed the set to resemble the imagination of Anon the play is told from his perspective. The plot follows him as he tries to remember his past.
“I looked at imagery and language from the odyssey to create ideas for the set,” said Cabral. “My inspiration ranged from a pictures of people to images of blue fabric.”
Cabral wanted the set to be more imaginative than literal so that the audience could get the most out of the performance. The casting process was another step Cabral had to take to find UWG students who can play a variety or characters.
“Erica Randle has this regal-ness about her,” said Cabral. “She has to play a goddess, barmaid and senator’s wife.”
All these characters could not become who they should be without the help of hand-crafted masks. Professor Brad Darvas created over 11 different masks for all the characters in Anon(ymous). Lizuka had written 23 distinct characters in Anon(ymous) and the masks helped with showing all the different roles to the audience. But Cabral hopes the audience will look beyond costumes and set pieces
“I want people to be affected by Anon’s story,” said Cabral. “I want the audience to be able to tell their own story after seeing this play.”
The audience will have a unique path to their seats when they go to see the plat in the coming weeks. They will be lead onto the stage and into their seats through a passage way that resembles a refugee camp.
The original audience intended for Anon(ymous) was children, and Cabral didn’t want to lose sight of that when asked to direct the play.
“I don’t want everyone in the audience to see the same play,” said Cabral. “I want them to have their own experience.”
