Violence, lust, incest, power: these are common themes in today's Hollywood blockbusters, but generally taboo in the confines of an intimate stage production. After personally witnessing a case of domestic abuse and being subject to a censoring law "in which fellows would pledge not to write or create art that caused offense to the community," playwright Paula Vogel created "Hot 'n' Throbbing" to recognize that "obscenity begins at home." Tonight, the 3Ps are bringing it to Tufts.
The six-person cast, led by veteran director and senior Caitlin Johnson, effectively pierces the superficial surfaces of everyday life to offer the audience a rare glimpse into the sickening, grimy reality of overlooked, yet extant dark human behavior. The actors hold nothing back as they present sex and abuse in a way that evokes fear, revulsion and ultimately discomfort, but with a purpose in mind. What attracted Johnson to the script was this conscious manipulation of the obscene that serves as a vehicle for commentary on today's profane culture.
"Vogel contrasts gratuitous, exploitative sex and violence with purposeful, meaningful sex and violence. She doesn't use it just to make a buck, but instead to have it function as a tool," said Johnson. "I was 10 pages into the script and I thought, 'This is the play that I'm doing.'"
The play revolves around The Woman (played by junior Madeline Schussel), a harried mother of two teenage children (played by sophomores Julie Hanlon and Jeff Beers), who pays the rent by writing erotic screenplays for women. Acting as muses are two figures who are also the voices in her head: a roguish stripper (senior Kat Round) and the club's manager and sexual analyst (senior Nick Jandl). Her world is upturned when her obsessive, abusive husband (sophomore Ben Chase) breaks his restraining order to pay her a momentous visit.
In undertaking this production, Johnson knew she'd have to assemble a cast prepared to face such an emotionally demanding script. She required that each actor read it in its entirety between the audition and the callback in order to make clear exactly what they were getting into.
Infrequently, if ever, does an audience observe characters imparting such dark and repulsive feelings onstage, which is why Johnson had to handle "Hot 'n' Throbbing" in an especially thorough way. Instead of the usual five- to six-week rehearsal period, the cast trained for an extended nine weeks, which allowed more time for the actors to grow comfortable with one another.
"In order to tap into the places where these sinister emotions come from, we had to first work tremendously for trust," said Johnson. "We spent the first three weeks of rehearsal together in the world of the play without ever touching the script, to establish a safe space." All members of "Hot 'n' Throbbing" also participated in a pre-rehearsal ritual to separate their normal lives from those of their fictional characters, so as to ensure that the tensions between actors weren't carried offstage.
The result is noticeable, for the characters interact seamlessly, each feeding off the other within the intimate, domestic setting of a single living room. This effortlessness is particularly impressive considering the broad range of acting experience among the cast members, newcomers and practiced actors alike. For a group of sophomores, juniors and seniors who didn't know each other beforehand, their closeness is evident through their believability onstage.
"Hot 'n' Throbbing carries out its purpose in a way that would make Vogel proud. By the close of the play, the audience is rendered shocked and speechless, saturated in the aftereffects of the actions of the extremely confused, struggling, tender human characters.
"It was by far the most difficult and rewarding theatrical experience I've had here," said Johnson, who is "almost definitely" sure that "Hot 'n' Throbbing" will be her final production. "I've pushed the actors, the actors have pushed me and the script has pushed all of us."
