2008 Woodie Awards
Two Rooms offers political insight
Zana Fejzic
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: Life & Times
Lee Blessing's "Two Rooms" presented by the Department of Theatre & Dance and Rollins Players was a captivating play not only for its storyline but also because of the actors' performances.
Directed by Aléa Figueroa, the play focused on the Lebanese Hostage Crisis from 1982 to 1992. The 96 victims were of 21 different
national origins, most of which were Western countries. At least 10 hostages were either murdered or died due to lack of medical attention.
The play opened with loud sounds of gunshots. The two or three minute long scenario seemed like forever whilst sitting in the pitch black, intimate setting of the Fred Stone Theatre and the audience could think of was war. Four actors were all it took to create the suspense in the show.
"Two Rooms" toyed with America's Foreign Policy and ethics as the story of Lainie, played by Maddy Rockwell, and her husband Michael, played by Michael Nardelli, unfolds. Michael was an American professor in Beirut who was taken hostage and Lainie could do nothing but wait as Ellen, played by Sarah McWilliams, a representative of the State Department, told her to simply wait and "have hope."
Meanwhile, news reporter Walker, played by Max Hilend, tried to coax Lainie out of the
loneliness she had confined herself to. He encouraged her, after many failed attempts, reach out to the public with her story because she was not alone in her suffering.
A big underlying theme of the play was the power of the media in correspondence to the government and how vastly they differ and yet hold the same kind of power over society. While Ellen tried to do all she could in order to stop Lainie from speaking out in public, Walker tried to do everything he could in order to get his story and to defy the government.
The most powerful part of the play was the slide show of middle school students holding weapons bigger than they were.
"Americans haven't had to fight on their soil for their land in over a century."
Directed by Aléa Figueroa, the play focused on the Lebanese Hostage Crisis from 1982 to 1992. The 96 victims were of 21 different
national origins, most of which were Western countries. At least 10 hostages were either murdered or died due to lack of medical attention.
The play opened with loud sounds of gunshots. The two or three minute long scenario seemed like forever whilst sitting in the pitch black, intimate setting of the Fred Stone Theatre and the audience could think of was war. Four actors were all it took to create the suspense in the show.
"Two Rooms" toyed with America's Foreign Policy and ethics as the story of Lainie, played by Maddy Rockwell, and her husband Michael, played by Michael Nardelli, unfolds. Michael was an American professor in Beirut who was taken hostage and Lainie could do nothing but wait as Ellen, played by Sarah McWilliams, a representative of the State Department, told her to simply wait and "have hope."
Meanwhile, news reporter Walker, played by Max Hilend, tried to coax Lainie out of the
loneliness she had confined herself to. He encouraged her, after many failed attempts, reach out to the public with her story because she was not alone in her suffering.
A big underlying theme of the play was the power of the media in correspondence to the government and how vastly they differ and yet hold the same kind of power over society. While Ellen tried to do all she could in order to stop Lainie from speaking out in public, Walker tried to do everything he could in order to get his story and to defy the government.
The most powerful part of the play was the slide show of middle school students holding weapons bigger than they were.
"Americans haven't had to fight on their soil for their land in over a century."
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