SPOTLIGHT: Quadramics opens a 'Window'

Tonight, in the windowless Harold Prince Theatre, Quadramics will try to open a window. A Blue Window, that is. Blue Window, the latest production from Quadramics, is an adventurous three-act show focusing on seven students' experiences before, during, and after a house party. According to the show's director, Window tries to deal with modern-day problems in a college student's world. "The play is about how we use language not to communicate," Wharton and College junior Samara Epstein said. "There are things that lie behind words that we're scared of facing up to." College and Wharton junior Lori Horowitz, who comically portrays a neurotic woman in the drama, said the play emphasizes the students' fears and leaves it to the audience to come up with their own solutions. "The play talks about the fear of being alone, the fear of not being loved or accepted," the actress stated. "The theme of the play is apropos to the college experience." Added Epstein, "The goal of the play is to have people leave here and talk about something 'real' ." The play also tries to make good use of its sets and lighting in the small, and traditionally limiting, Annenberg Center theater. Conceptualized after New York City's SoHo area, the setting consists of a hard-wood floor and track lighting. Between scenes, the players move around their own props. Written by gay-rights activist Craig Lucas in 1984, Blue Window has become more popular in performing arts circles, since another of Lucas' plays, Prelude to A Kiss, hit Broadway. But College senior Galina Espinoza, who portrays Alice -- one of the two lesbian characters in the play, said that her character's lesbianism is not an integral part of the show. "First and foremost, Alice is a novelist and intellectual," Espinoza explained. "Her homosexuality is a secondary characteristic; it doesn't affect her as a human being." Because of the overlapping dialogue and unusual stage set-up, the play will mean different things to different people. "Everyone can relate to the play somehow, yet in very different ways," said Quadramics member Karyn Wachtell. Cast members that even though they can related to some characteristics of the figures, the play has been challenging, but worthwhile to organize. "It's fun to see how you portray your character in the first week and the last week [of rehearsal]," said actor Anthony Byrnes. "The character develops into someone else." "Every time the cast gets on stage, they must be true to what is happening emotionally, not just verbally," added director Epstein. "We're very happy with the result." Blue Window will run tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. at the Harold Prince Theatre. Tickets are $5 and are available on Locust Walk.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.