Tommy loves Danielle. Sean loves Kendra. JB loves Joline. Billy loves Allison. Sean loves Celie, forever and ever. These expressions are spray painted onto a cave wall with the memories lingering far beyond the words.
After a night filled with drugs and alcohol, Celie disappears into the darkness and is never found. Years pass, and all but a few of the teenagers have died dark and mysterious deaths.
This is the setting for “Language of Angels,” the latest production put on in the Cave Theatre.
“The play is ambiguous, and as a director the biggest challenge is to find out what it is about,” director Audrey Eldridge said.
The junior directing major had to bring together actors of different grade and experience levels, from senior acting major LaKecia Harris to freshman meteorology major Chris Oechsel.
Oechsel, who plays JB, said the show will make people think, but not in the intellectual sense.
“It’s interesting trying to figure out the intricacies in the last part of the play,” Oechsel said. “There are lots of subtleties, and the hardest part is finding the right path to take.”
Freshman acting major Ashley Greenwood, whose character Danielle is still alive, enjoys the space of the Cave Theatre and believes it contributes to the experience.
“The play is more intimate between the audience and the actors, and if you’re in a bigger audience, it is more difficult to connect and to entertain,” Greenwood said.
Playing a strong-willed and brash character, Greenwood has to be seen in the show as the boldest of the bunch. “Language of Angels” leaves the audience to figure out what happened, she said.
Harris, who plays the ghost and angel Celie, said she puts layers of herself into each character she plays. But this time she hasn’t had to enforce age barriers.
“I’ve been a 16-year-old one-eyed girl, a 60-year-old Catholic nun, and now I’m playing a ghost closer to my age,” Harris said.
Harris said everything in the play is ghostly, and there’s a natural curiosity to be filled. She said the play teaches that sometimes life works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.
“It’s not lighthearted, but it’s fun,” Harris said.
Freshman design tech major Stuart Wilson said the play’s special effects particularly add a dramatic mood.
“The goal is to make the director’s vision for the play come to life and realized for its full potential,” Wilson said.
Eldridge said the effects were difficult to understand, but they helped open up her mind. In the end, though, she wants it to be about the work.
“I had to put trust into the actors that they would grasp onto something about this play [and run with it],” Eldridge said.
What: “Language of Angels”
Where: Cave Theatre, AC 007
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday - Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Saturday - Sunday
Cost: $6, available at the door or University Theatre Box Office
