NOTE: This production contains material intended for mature audiences.
A family’s already dysfunctional lives begin to crumble when a dark family secret is revealed in Drake University Theatre’s production of Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
This Drama Desk Award and Tony Award winning drama centers around architect Martin (Drake junior Andrew Hatfield), his wife Stevie (senior Christina Stai), and their son Billy (first-year student Bailey Coronis) and how love may not always be what is expected.
Drake’s production, directed by Associate Professor of Theatre Arts Michael Rothmayer, runs Thursday, Oct. 5 through Sunday, Oct. 8 in the Coleman Studio Theatre of the Harmon Fine Arts Center. Performances will start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available online, in person, or via telephone at the Fine Arts Box Office, 2525 Carpenter Ave., 515-271-3841.
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? questions society’s conventions about love and what is considered right and wrong.
“There’s subject matter in the show that we consider as a taboo in our society,” said Drake senior Colin Meyer, the production’s assistant director, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Directing. “The show isn’t about those taboos, it’s about a family facing those taboos, and coming to terms with those hardships. It’s about the genuine love between the characters.”
This production features some controversial themes and content, but that’s what makes the show so powerful, according to Andrew Hatfield, who is pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre.
“It’s everything that’s good about theater,” Hatfield said. “It challenges the audience. It makes you think. You leave the theater wanting to talk about this play, and what you experienced with somebody else and what they experienced, and that’s amazing. And while it may shock some people or may make some people angry, it does what theater is supposed to do.”
Hatfield hopes the show leaves the audience reflecting on themselves and questioning the world around them.
“I want them to look inward and see where they place their morals, or where we place the word ‘taboo’ in society and why we place it there,” Hatfield said. “I hope they see that there are things going on in the world that are terrible and awful and yet we choose to focus on things that are unimportant. If the audience can walk away looking at that, I think we’ve done our job.”