REVIEW: For the Love of (Or, the Roller Derby Play)

As I settled into my seat at the Arthur Miller Theatre, little did I know that I was about to be whisked away into the adrenaline-pumping world of roller derby, a world I had never explored before. Enter the Rude Mechanicals and their electrifying production of For the Love of (or, the Roller Derby Play), which proved to be a dazzling spectacle that captivated from start to finish.

The Rude Mechanicals team assembled a seamless fusion of sets, costumes, hair, and lighting, each working harmoniously to transport this newbie into the vibrant, gritty world of roller derby. The dazzling costumes and imaginative set design were like characters themselves, imbued with the essence of the sport and its audacious players. 

And then there was the derby choreography, wow! The energetic sequences dazzled with their exhilarating pace, brilliantly captured the sport’s chaos and thrill while presumably being far safer than the real thing. The cast flew around the stage with infectious energy and precision, making the audience feel as if we’d dropped into a match on the fast track. 

Before the show, audience members were given team flags, stirring up competitive spirit and encouraging us to root for our favorite characters, which is a thrilling addition. This electrified the atmosphere, resulting in a lively yet respectful crowd. Imagine an audience fully engaged, mouths agape, eyes wide, and hearts pounding, not because of a stray Instagram scroll, but because the performance demanded it. 

However, every fierce jam (that’s a roller derby term I learned) has its slip-up, and here, the plot’s initial momentum veers off course. The script begins as a captivating ensemble piece, weaving the members’ stories like a taut team flag. Yet, it falters towards the end of act one, turning towards a singular storyline with a sapphic love triangle. This divulgence from the derby isn’t necessarily bad because sapphic love isn’t relevant to the story, but it dilutes the broader message of empowerment and unity within roller derby, which is what the story initially offers as you get to know the characters in the first act.

Despite this narrative detour, the cast delivered stellar performances. The actresses portraying Lizzie Lightning, Sophia Santos Ufkes, and Andrea the Vagiant, Sarah Josephina Hartmus, stood out, their portrayals embodying fierce athleticism and vulnerable emotion that provided nuanced reflections of the roller derby spirit, and their complicated characters. 

For the Love of (or, the Roller Derby Play) invited me into the intense, enthralling world of roller derby with Rude Mechanicals at the helm—definitely a production to be experienced. While I left with a major issue with the script, the overall excellence of the production remains undeniable. No matter the jam, in the rink, you’ll find your way through.

REVIEW: For The Love Of (Or, The Roller Derby Play)

April 20 | 2pm | The Arthur Miller Theater

 

 

“Its called the pack, all of us together like that.” a cocky skater bellows, painted in tattoos and a hint of aggression. “It’s crazy how we get so caught up in it…How it becomes everything…The chase and the game.” Roller derby is no joke to Lizzie Lightning.

The air of the 2010s is crisp from the moment you step into the Arthur Miller Theater—I was nearly sent back to clutching my iPod Touch in my parents’ house while watching reruns of Victorious. Rude Mechanicals presents For The Love of (Or, The Roller Derby Play), a 2018 play by Gina Femia. Director Natalie Tell transports us into a Roller Derby locker room in 2015, the humble home of the Brooklyn Scallywags.

Misfit newcomer Joy Ride (Grace Wilson) is new to the Scallywags, a passionate women’s Roller Derby team. When Joy meets the star player, Lizzie Lightning (a forceful Sofia Santos-Ufkes), she and her partner Michelle (Alexandra Berryman) tackle new challenges from Joy’s split devotion to the Scallywags and her long-term relationship.

The team is led by their overlooked coach, Andrea the Vagiant (Sarah Josephina Hartmus) and: Anna-Stecia, a reliable nurse (Oummu Kabba), Hot Flash, a brash Brooklynite mother (Cammie Golba), the adorable Squeaky Mouse (Maya Kusalovic), the dedicated Prosecute-Her (Ariela Alperstein), and the tough, no-shit-taking Diaz de los Muertos (Naomi Rodriguez).

The Arthur Miller Theater.

The show weaves small vignettes of each skater’s life outside the rink with the team’s present lives on the track. The derby surrounds them, why, it makes up the entire set (an exquisite design by Ellie Vice). Though they work jobs, have children, partners, the team is their true community: “Roller Derby is not just a sport—it’s a movement on eight wheels, a high-speed collision of athleticism, spectacle and subculture”, thoughtfully stated by dramaturgs Sam Aupperlee and Nova Brown.

 

The choreography (by Marcus Byers Jr.) was sassy and energetic, just the right spunk to match bright pink and purple jerseys (costumes by Katy Dawson).  Though indulging in long scene transitions, the actors brought out the natural charm of their friendship, especially in intimate moments. Wilson and Berryman found a natural chemistry between each other, devastating as the two flounder, craving different realities.

Andrea initially seems uptight and standoffish, but when a past relationship with Lizzie is uncovered, the mood thickens, and she softens respectfully. Hartmus is effortless onstage, funny, and sensitive. With Santos-Ufkes, the two create sentimental and dynamic interplay between the past lovers.

The range of roles in this production is intriguing, but some of the writing feels reductive to stereotype. Prosecute-her and Squeaky Mouse, women with brief vignettes during the show, maintained a pretty central shtick (the law student and the ditzy girl), which left me craving more from them.

For The Love Of spends the least time exploring the sport of roller derby, and more of it sinking into the lives of those who play it. And the inherent queerness without any thematic overtness was refreshing. So was watching the team learn to love the game, themselves, and each other.  It never was about Roller Derby anyway.

 

 

 

Photos thanks to Rude Mechanicals & Ellie Vice. 

REVIEW: Murder on the Orient Express

Before I saw Rude Mechanicals’ production of “Murder on the Orient Express,” I had no idea what to expect. Somehow, despite the source material by Agatha Christie being so iconic, neither the plot nor the ending had been spoiled for me.

Going in, I had no preconceived notions of what this play should look like – and, like with all murder mysteries, I think that is the best way to do it. 

The play opens with a blinding blast of light from the stage, mimicking a train’s headlights, before diving into the show. Hercule Poirot (Ty Lam), a world-renowned Belgian detective, is traveling from Istanbul to London on the Orient Express, a train line owned by his friend, Monsieur Bouc (Fabian Rihl). Once aboard the train, a kooky cast of characters including the chic and dramatic Princess Dragomiroff (Bobby Currie) and the over-the-top Helen Hubbard (Olivia Sulisz) soon find themselves trapped when the Express gets stuck in a snowdrift.

Amidst the hubbub, a dead body is found with eight stab wounds. It’s Samuel Ratchett (Jax Coates)… or is it? Poirot is immediately on the case.

The Rude Mechanicals cast performs “Murder on the Orient Express” on November 8, 2024. Photo by Ellie Vice.

While the play is, at its core, a murder mystery, it is also a comedy. In the program, director Anderson Zoll says they “leaned into the humor and heightened theatricality” to give the show “a generous dose of camp.” And overall? I think they succeeded. 

As someone who didn’t know the plot before going in, it was a bit tough to follow at first because nearly every character has a different accent. A terribly tough task, to truck through the 100 minutes in an Irish, Russian or Swedish accent. But once the cast fell into stride, the show chugged along like a well-oiled machine. The Rude Mechanicals machine, perhaps. 

Part of what heightened the “campy” aspect of this production were the cheeky asides and musical transitions between some scenes. For instance, in one of the first scenes, a character remarks that Lam’s mustache “doesn’t even look real!” In response, Lam moves the open newspaper he is obviously hiding behind to give the audience a pointed look over the mustache that is, very obviously, fake. In one of the scene clearings, the ghost of Daisy Armstrong (Christine Chupailo) performs a beautiful ballet sequence; but in the context of the flippancy of everything else, it almost made me laugh. 

While the whole cast was great, Rihl, Currie and Sulisz stood out. With a healthy dose of physical comedy and almost-constant movement, Rihl really played into the stressed businessman who will do anything to keep his customers happy. Even when not speaking, Rihl’s reactions to other characters and their actions simply made so much sense; of course he would dust off the seats before someone sits down to be interrogated! Currie plays Princess Dragomiroff in drag, a choice that felt so natural it made me search whether the role was usually played in drag. And Sulisz, from using Michel the Conductor (Jaden Gonzalez) as a handrail to climb onto the train to singing show tunes to herself in a pink robe, drew some of the biggest laughs. The loud, dramatic American traveling solo, the character Sulisz played was both familiar and novel, and altogether magnetic.

Some of the more serious moments fell flat, but they were few and far between, and the play did wonders as a comedy. A good comedy immerses the audience in a world and lets them leave their worries at the door, if only for two hours. While the plot was interesting, it was ultimately the way the cast embraced their roles and “committed to the bit” that made it so enjoyable.

REVIEW: Stop Kiss

Rude Mechanicals completes their 2023-24 season with the 1999 play by Diana Son, Stop Kiss. Seeing this play was a new experience for me, and quite a beautiful one.

Set from Stop Kiss in the Arthur Miller Theater.

The play follows two young women, Callie (Emilia Vizachero) and Sara (Victoria Vourkoutiotis), who meet in New York City and begin to have feelings for one another. One evening, they share a kiss in the West Village, and it results in a terrible hate crime leaving Sara with a life-altering injury. The play follows a non-linear storyline, jumping from Sara and Callie’s first interaction to weeks after the attack.

 

I am not cultured on much queer theater, so I haven’t been exposed to many pieces where characters are actively discovering their sexual identity during the show—rather many pieces I’ve encountered have characters come in with their sexuality seemingly decided. I enjoyed this piece’s honest and sincere exploration of queerness.

I was immediately struck by Audrey Tieman’s beautiful onstage set when I walked into the Arthur Miller. It brought me directly into the moment of the show with an ornate pink apartment—the 1990s, young, and within a metropolitan city. The major part of the set was far upstage, juxtaposing the thrust space. This left the apartment scenes feeling more presentational than personal, counteracting the intimacy of a thrust. All of the scenes outside the apartment were on the thrust, such as the detective’s office or moments when characters were strolling through the streets of New York City. An interesting choice, that sometimes led me out of the detail of the world that was created in the embellished apartment set.

Emilia Vizachero and Adam Rogers delivered individually exquisite performances. Rogers is effortlessly charming as Callie’s undefined partner, George, and Vizachero brilliantly leads us through a journey of Callie’s many complex emotions over two timelines—one I would be happy to experience again. Vourkoutiotis also played a sweet and gentle Sara, with wholesome chemistry alongside a witty Vizachero.

 

Emilia Vizachero as Callie.

Direction (by Reese Leif) was cohesive and thorough. Scenes and dramatic moments felt naturally paced, at times skimming on hyper-realism, making the play’s brutal contrast of content duly apparent to the audience.

 

The illuminating kiss that closes the play leaves a fully realized portrait of Callie and Sara’s relationship. This perfectly placed scene becomes charged over the duration of the play due to the revelations about what lies behind and ahead of these beloved characters. It was an unforgettable (and titular) moment of the piece, yet left my heart aching for the two women.

 

 

Leo Kupferberg (a fabulous and frequent SMTD Dramaturg) made a beautiful point in his dramaturgy note about the “in-between” of the piece, which I left the theater pondering. This show revels in the lack of certainty, unwavering bravery, and messiness many women navigate through. Stop Kiss can feel limited to its darkness and crucial messaging of the tumultuous experiences of many LGBTQ+ relationships, but Leif brings out the beauty in such darkness, reminding us that love always prevails.

 

 

 

 

 

April 20th, 8pm. Arthur Miller Theater. Images thanks to @umrudes on Instagram.

REVIEW: Attempts On Her Life

Rude Mechanicals is a student-run theater organization founded in 1996 specializing in producing plays. This semester’s performance of Attempts on Her Life (1997) by Martin Crimp was bold and thought-provoking, an experimental masterpiece of theater. Director Tiara Partsch crafted this perplexing script into a chaotically constructed gem. 

The most fascinating aspect of this show is how there are no named characters in the script. The dialogue exists on its own and remains completely open to interpretation by the director and the creative team. There are no set characters, and there is no plot. The actors exist as thoughts, people, or concepts that are never truly defined. From what I understood, Crimp was emphasizing the deconstruction of theater, focusing on independent facets of a named ‘Anne’ or ‘Anny’s’ life. It’s important to note that Anne is not just a defined person but also a heroine of a film, a porn star, a conversation piece among friends, a car, or a concept. This piece surely demanded lots of attention and open-mindedness from the audience.

At some points, the drama was difficult to navigate as an audience member who is not as seasoned in experimental theater. Although, the originality of the dialogue was clear through the lack of a storyline. Overall, Crimp’s urge to condemn a coherent identity in society through this text was understood. There are beautifully crafted monologues in this piece that were delivered exceptionally by the troupe of actors. Their attention to small details and their meticulous handling of the material were admired by the audience. 

The design for this show was brilliant. The objects hung over the stage were a perfect implication of the abstract nature of the show. I loved the eclectic colors and textures throughout the costumes, while the minimal set pieces did not wash the actors out of the Mendelssohn stage. William Webster was in charge of the scenic design with Ellie Van Engen cultivating the costume design for the show. 

Attempts on Her Life ran December 1-3 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Next semester, Rude Mechanicals will present Diana Son’s Stop Kiss directed by Reese Leif. The show will perform April 19-21st with auditions mid-semester. 

 

 

Images thanks to @UMRUDES on Instagram. 

PREVIEW: Indecent

What: a historical, semi-nonfiction play produced by the student theater company Rude Mechanicals

When: 

  • Friday, December 9, 8:00pm
  • Saturday, December 10, 8:00pm
  • Sunday, December 11, 2:00pm

Where: Arthur Miller Theater (North Campus, map)

Tickets: $6 for students, $12 for adults, available online, at the MUTO ticket office, by phone at (734) 763-8587), or at the box office 1 hr before the performance. Additional fees may apply.

Indecent follows the tumultuous story of another play, God of Vengeance, which was written by the Polish-Jewish playwright Sholem Asch in 1906. The story is grand in scope, sweeping from the origins of God of Vengeance in 1906, to its production in Europe, to the devastating effects of xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, and censorship during its attempted production in the United States, and finally detailing the lingering effects of the play on its actors and authors during the Holocaust and into the 1950s. The Rude Mechanicals are a student theater company emphasizing creative innovation on classic plays, where students take charge in the entire production process. I am excited to see how they interpret this play with its richly layered themes which feel increasingly salient today.