PW Presents: If You're Lucky
It's a common occurrence.I'm sitting in a dark movie theatre. The protagonist is near prophecy fulfillment, but a brick remains unlaid. I'm sensing the coming of a dark screen and glance at my watch tells me it's almost curtain time, but the narrative is incomplete - I'm not ready for it to end.We often lose ourselves in stories. We feel like every beginning entitles us to the ending of our choosing. Accepting anything else - leaving imagined lives behind - can leave us feeling empty or incomplete. How do you measure a life other than with stories?If You're Lucky, written and directed by Joey Massa '17, dwells on clock-checking moments. Lucy (Jenna E. Chapman '19 ), the matriarch of a family with a thick web of memories, has arrived at 85 with a developed, unspecified dementia. Her three daughters Teresa (Claire Sise '18), Rose (Gloria Essien '17), Mary (Rebecca Cheng '18), and Mary's daughter and husband, respectively Annie (Kathy Ng '17) and Michael (Ahmed Ashour ' 19), are charged with the responsibility of caring for her while she fades away from them.
View of the If You're Lucky set
Set designer Yoo Jin Shin '18 created a stage that serves as both a memory-scape for the characters and a series of compartments to isolate them within. The series of platforms allow for memories to be superimposed on the present, and the various props on stage are exploited to depict various theoretical settings without ever forfeiting the intimate sense of home. The lighting and sound design are also critical in this show, as attention is constantly shifting all over the stage, from past to present to hallucination. Not once did I feel confused by any of this, and instead was enraptured by the tender moments when Lucy escapes from her silent prison to dance with her deceased husband (Margie Davey '19).The strenuous amount of workshopping put in by the cast is evident in the way they flow seamlessly between these overlaid scenes. Accompanied by light and sound, you can see a visible change in the characters' dispositions, their ages, and opinions in a moment's digression into a memory. Just the lights can evoke a sense of nostalgia and warmth that can immediately be subtracted from the current scene at hand. This helps create a beautiful contrast when the characters flash back into the present, into the people they’ve since become. Especially impressive was how Chapman was able to transition her body language between her young self and her new self trapped in her voiceless body. The individuality of the three daughters and Annie is never lost in the group. Their back stories and and ambitions clearly influence the specific interrelations they have, their love for each other as well as their quarrels with one another.
Behind the stage of overlapping tableaus spans a massive chalk timeline. It starts with Lucy’s genesis, which is followed by the subsequent life events of the family she creates, and ends with a massive rightward arrow. This moment, when we the audience, as well as Lucy's progeny are faced with a simultaneous end and continuation, is a rattling one. When do we depart from the story we’ve always told ourselves and how can we find purpose in a new one? When is it time to leave something behind? As a student writer, Massa’s invocation and handling of these questions is exceedingly mature and composed.If You’re Lucky features an extremely capable, multitalented cast and crew and grapples with issues of sexuality, infidelity, mental health, and grief. It isn’t a minute too short or long, it engages the audience’s attention, and allows a house of memory to build itself in your mind. It is surely one of the the most evocative pieces of student art to be seen at Brown.If You're Lucky opens tonight, Friday, September 23rd and runs until Monday, September 26th. Showtimes are at 8 p.m. every night and a there is a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, September 25th. Tickets are free and available on Eventbrite as well as at the box office one hour before the show. Images via Yoo Jin Shin '18