Torn Ticket II enchants Balch Arena Theater with 'Fly By Night'

If the aim is to evoke as many emotions as possible in a two-hour period, Torn Ticket II’s production of "Fly By Night" (2014), originally written by Will Connolly, Michael Mitnick and Kim Rosenstock, hits the bull’s-eye. An eccentric and charismatic cast of seven enchants the stage, bringing joy, fear, grief, love, humor, some really high notes and that feeling of strange satisfaction caused by someone's discomfort. Though the cast is small, each actor fills their unique persona remarkably well.

“We have a new and different voice,” Director Corinne Thomas said.

Balch Theater housed the production, which has been entirely engineered by Tufts students. Torn ticket II is Tufts’ only completely student run musical theater group, and the performance is reflective of this: in addition to the seven actors, there are over forty students on production, directing and creating professional special effects.

The audience is transported from Balch into 1960's New York City, amid the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965, flooded with music, romance and the occasional supernatural occurrence. Freshman Sara Kimble narrates the story of two sisters, a retired air traffic controller-turned-sandwich-shop owner, a Broadway writer and a father and son pair. Freshman Ava Nusblatt portrays Daphne, a zesty aspiring actress hoping to be a star; she frames the metaphor for her sister Miriam, played by senior Lucy Kania, who’s been stargazing her entire life. Freshman Benji Cunningham's Harold becomes deeply romantically involved with both sisters simultaneously -- and somehow manages to be charming in doing so.

The central love triangle is guided by a particularly strong series of characters intertwined with their own backstories. Each role has a very specific personality, and the actors tackle these personas with individualized approaches down to their character's mannerisms. There is Joey, the Broadway playwright played by sophomore Rich Kirby, who conveys the character's charms through his clumsy optimism and schoolboy crush on Daphne. Junior Ben Nissan animates the sandwich shop owner Crabble with gusto, performing with a passion that illuminates the stage. Finally, Rohun Dhar, a junior, completely alters the tone of the performance through his role as Mr. McClam, promising an overload of sentimental feelings every time he’s on stage.

“They’re those types of people,” Thomas, a junior, said, relating the dynamic cast to the quirky tone of the play.

There is a reoccurring theme of supernatural phenomena layered into the plot, giving the musical a compelling edge. Narrator Kimble is transformed into many small roles in context throughout the performance, the most memorable being a demonic psychic that was both comical and scary. Kimble transfixes viewers with an other-worldly exhibition of how impossible forces can be weaved easily into the reality of love, loss and fate.

Still each character contributes more than humor or entertainment to the stage, and they all bring some different aspect of raw emotion to the piece. "'Fly By Night' is about people and about love and about people learning how to love each other and love themselves,” Thomas said.

The show asks audience members how one can navigate the complexities of issues such as loving your sister and kissing her fiance, supporting a grieving family member despite their selfishness and continuing to stay at a terrible job. None of these issues are explicitly resolved, but rather they are explained by the journeys each character accidentally embarks on throughout the piece.

The production is also partnering with Tufts’ EASE project, supporting “Equity, Access, & Student Equality.” The focus of the project is to provide Tufts students with resources such as food and housing stability. This initiative is helping to create a campus in which every student is able to learn and embrace the community at an equal caliber. Department of Drama and Dance Chair Heather Nathans brought the project to "Fly By Night," in hopes of making Tufts a more inclusive place for all students, including those who are struggling in silence.

The production and the EASE project both have similar messages in a sense that act to remind students that life can be tough, and there are no easy answers, though it's all a part of the journey in the end.