by Maria Staiano-Daniels
Daily Lobo
Could you forgive a serial killer?
That is the question Bryony Lavery's play "Frozen" explores. The play, opening at Theatre X on Thursday, examines our ideas of justice, guilt and rehabilitation through the story of Ralph, a man who raped and killed seven pre-teen girls.
Director Justin Lenderking read a review of "Frozen" when it played in New York last year, and he was immediately interested in the play.
"The script addresses something that's really a huge issue, a huge taboo subject," he said. "Something that people have a real difficulty discussing."
He said the play doesn't pull any punches.
"Frozen" presents three perspectives on the issue through its three characters - Nancy, the mother of one of Ralph's victims; Agnatha, a psychiatrist researching the idea that serial murder is caused by childhood trauma; and, of course, Ralph himself.
Hannah Kauffmann, who plays Nancy, said her character is struggling to overcome a lot of obstacles at the same time. Nancy must come to terms with her daughter's murder while confronting problems with her husband and her surviving daughter.
"What happens to her daughter Rona is very much the culmination of everything," Kauffmann said.
Rachel Corona, a sophomore theater major, plays Agnatha, the psychiatrist who thinks serial murder may be a forgivable act, and serial killers may be curable.
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"Agnatha finds herself more attached to Ralph than previous patients," Corona said.
Graduate student Stash Banner took the role of Ralph after the first actor had to leave the production. Banner said Ralph is complicated.
"He can only exist comfortably in his world if he kills and rapes little girls," he said.
While Banner talked, a makeup artist painted tattoos on his arms and legs. Ralph got a tattoo every time he killed a girl, Banner said. Ralph's murders are a ritualistic, almost religious way to exorcise the pain of his past.
Ralph is a hard role to play, Banner said, because it's a challenge to make him understandable. Banner said he feels compassion for Ralph, who was abused by his father and bounced between foster homes as a child.
"I have sympathy for him trying to exist in such a crazy world," Banner said, adding that he doesn't agree with Ralph's methods of coping.
Banner said people should understand criminal behavior isn't always a choice.
"Some people are out there who are really psychologically different," he said.
"Frozen" will be a challenge for the audience, according to Lenderking.
"Some of the questions that are raised are unanswerable," he said.
Lenderking said he likes that the play doesn't try to answer all the questions, but instead asks the audience to figure out answers for themselves.
"A lot of times when we go to movies we see a hurried attempt to answer all the questions in the last 20 minutes," he said.
Kauffmann agreed, saying "Frozen" demands the audience draw its own conclusions.
"Our job is just to put it up there and let everyone see it and think about it," she said.
Banner also said he hopes the audience will consider the issues dealt with by the play.
"Have a good time while you're here, think about it later," he said.
