LOGAN – Contemporary playwright Jen Silverman is fast becoming the “go-to-girl” of the Theatre Arts program at Utah State University.
In spring of 2022, USU staged Silverman’s “The Moors,” an unforgettable gothic romance with a trick ending.
Last fall, the university presented “Love and Information” by Silverman, an odd little show that explored the boundaries of playwriting by giving actors and audiences a challenging experience to digest.
As part of this semester’s series of play readings, the theater program offered Hippos of the Eastern Enclosure over the past weekend.
That one-act play by Silverman was flat-out hilarious.
To paraphrase George Orwell, the point of Silverman’s absurdist play seemed to be that “while all hippos are equal, some hippos are more equal than others.”
But Hippos of the Eastern Enclosure — skillfully directed by student Hailey Haymond — was a lot more fun than reading Animal Farm.
Play readings are supposed to be pretty staid affairs. But not this one, where Haymond’s six spirited performers connected solidly with the wildly laughing audience in the tiny Black Box Theatre of the Chase Fine Arts Center.
Hippos of the Eastern Enclosure takes place at an unnamed zoo on Thanksgiving. While a nervous male zookeeper is overwhelmed when three hippos all get their periods at the same time, the menstruating pachyderms engage in a surprising cynical analysis about fame and power.
Actors Dallen Busk and Levi Hopkins amusingly debate who’s going to handle the messy Eastern Enclosure, joined by an equally nervous fiancée played by Mary Newton, who’s not about to face her soon-to-be in-laws for Thanksgiving dinner on her own.
Meanwhile, back at the Eastern Enclosure, old-timer hippos Samantha Capener and McKenna Finley are teaching newcomer hippo Brooklyn Bullard all about the school of hard knocks, especially through a spontaneous rap song.
When Bullard gets her first taste of the limelight, however, it’s ”hooray for me, screw you other guys!”
Most absurdist playwrights take themselves way too seriously, but Silverman played Hippos of the Eastern Enclosure strictly for laughs and Haymond’s deft direction made it all work like a charm.
Also on the play-reading bill of fare was This is Not a Drill, by Rachel Gilbert, a drama about teenage students trapped in their crumbling school by an earthquake.
The cast of This is Not a Drill included Allison Johnson, Sandra Johnson, Megan Bedell, Brooke Grant, Ollie Chieppa, Ryan Adams and Ethan Shaw.
That play-reading was directed by Dylan Seeley.