The theater department’s fall production, “Big Plastic / Something Lunar,” is an unconventional devised piece. At just an hour long, the show manages to cover a lot of ground — literally and figuratively. Beginning outside the Art Barn at the edge of the Skoglund parking lot, “Big Plastic” made excellent creative use of the space as the audience moved through four different locations to watch different parts of the show.
Central to the plot is a conflict of environmental and spiritual themes and corporate interests, as the Big Plastic corporation lobbies a politician to gain industrial access to a section of natural lands called the Grove, home to the Great God Pan and Pan’s followers. The show used a variety of techniques to highlight the divide between those at the corporation and the followers of Pan, most notably movement and costuming. The actors incorporated extended sections of movement and dance into the show, which added to the transportative quality of the performance.
The real standout of the show, however, was the technical crew. The crew adorned the actors with varying lighting elements on their costumes. The vice president of polymers at Big Plastic (Gabe Maxwell ’22) and the politician (Ben Schwartz ’24) had no lit aspects to their costumes, and stood in contrast with the Great God Pan themself (Ayee Mounivong ’22), who was bedecked with flashing, rainbow-colored lights incorporated into several aspects of their costume. The sound design by Parker Love ’22 was exceptional, merging seamlessly with lighting and performative aspects to round out the experience of the show.
An unusual theatrical performance for an unusual time, “Big Plastic / Something Lunar” was worth the watch.
rice4@stolaf.edu
