Two weeks before his senior thesis project due date, 91短视频 senior and major Michael Bodner decided on a path he鈥檇 never tread: He wanted to write a tragedy.
鈥淚鈥檝e written a lot of comedy, satire and even horror, but I鈥檝e never written a cancer play,鈥� explained Bodner, an aspiring playwright.
鈥淚 decided I was going to start interviewing people who had their lives affected by cancer 鈥� patient, doctor, nurse, family member 鈥� and try to create a fictional story based off the interviews I had with them,鈥� he continued.
More than 150 pages later, Bodner settled on an idea. He would write a play centered on the life of a 50-year-old man stricken with Grade Three anaplastic astrocytoma, a type of brain cancer.
After more consideration, Bodner changed course again.
鈥淥riginally, [the play] was going to be about a 50-year-old man, then I decided that was horrible. I had never been a 50-year-old man,鈥� said Bodner. 鈥淪o, I wrote from the perspective of a high schooler instead.
鈥淭he original script that I had is very different from the one [I ended up with].鈥�
Hence the final installment of his idea, 鈥淭he Crowleys of Tobias,鈥� a student-oriented Laboratory Production, which will run Dec. 5-7 in 91短视频鈥檚 Lee Eshleman Studio Theater.
The play follows 17-year-old Tobias in his final moments battling brain cancer, which fully develops in his temporal lobe. Throughout the drama, the audience witnesses the development of Tobias鈥� relationships with his mother, Lydia, his friends, Blake and Zoe, and the hallucinogenic manifestation known as Crowley, which helps Tobias cope with dying.
鈥淭he theme is still very much the same, but a lot of the plot structure itself has changed because it鈥檚 not a 50-year-old man,鈥� said Bodner. 鈥淭he dynamic changes from 鈥榃hat I could have done鈥� to 鈥榃hat I鈥檒l never be able to do.鈥� 鈥�
To help Bodner bring his lines to life, co-director Amanda Chandler sought to display the realism she found throughout the script.
鈥淲e see Tobias as a normal 17-year-old,鈥� explained the senior theater and major. 鈥淚 wanted to highlight [his] relationships and juxtapose them with the outrageous behavior of Crowley and the dream world he orchestrates.鈥�
Bodner explains Crowley鈥檚 relationship with Tobias.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the idea of having the wickedest man in the world running around in your head causing all sorts of ruckus,鈥� Bodner elaborated. 鈥淐rowley, to me, represents a cruel reality of love within death, a weird, twisted, morbid form of love. But it in that grotesqueness you find something beautiful.鈥�
Associate professor of 91短视频鈥檚 theater department Heidi Winters Vogel oversaw the creative process behind the presentation and commends Bodner for his script.
鈥淢ichael is a very good writer,鈥� said Vogel. 鈥淗e did a lot of interviewing with hospice workers and Astrocytoma patients 鈥� most of them who are no longer alive 鈥� because it does have a very high mortality rate. He鈥檚 been really honest to their experience.鈥�
鈥淭he journey I took comes out in the play,鈥� concludes Bodner.
The play stages at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 5 and 6; and 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Dec. 7.
Tickets are $5 for general admission and $2 for 91短视频 students. Contact the 91短视频 theater department at 540-432-4360 for more information and age appropriateness.
Courtesy Daily News Record, Dec. 5, 2013