Experience Stupid F*@#ing Bird

: Photo Courtesy of LU Dept. of Theatre

November 10–17

A play can give us passive entertainment, but innovators in the arts like to really leave a mark. Written by Aaron Posner, Stupid F*@#ing Bird is a reimagining of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull that conjures more from the audience than simple reflection.

With Pam Pepper directing, Zoellner Arts Center presents the theater department's production of this adaptation of Chekhov's character-driven classic. “The richly developed characters are iconic in their theatricality and their cultural resonances, and together and individually they seek to make sense of art, of love and of life,” Pepper says. A son finds it hard to yearn both to change the world and win his mother's respect; an ingenue seeks the success of stardom but lacks a grip on reality; other characters continue the theme of struggling to fulfill needs and wants existential and concrete. Unrequited love seems to bounce in all directions.

While we can relate to these strivings, Posner doesn't stop there. “He challenges us with his masterfully employed direct audience engagement, and demands that we play a part in the experience. We cannot simply sit back and take it in—we become part of the characters' journeys. We have a responsibility to them.”

The play begins, in fact, when an audience member volunteers, “Start the f*@%ing play!” Within Emma Arkadina's backyard theater space, the ensemble of actors will be just that, without disguising lighting instruments or the sound console, which actors will control much of the time, often speaking directly to the audience.

Check out this fresh and funny production, a reinvention of both a Russian masterpiece and the theater experience.