Just because the play’s called “No Exit” and is set in hell doesn’t mean you’ll want to leave.
Directed by Joseph Montoya, “No Exit,” the premier French existentialist play, was first performed in 1944.
Montoya said he’s interested in the audience’s reaction to existentialism.
“I’m hoping that there are many different reactions, mainly because there’s so many ways to interpret existentialism,” he said. “I didn’t actually feel that if we pin-pointed it and said, ‘Alright, we’re going to do it like this and that’s the message I’m going to send,’ – I feel that it’s such an intense subject matter. I thought, ‘Let’s sort of do this in a different way.’”
“No Exit” takes place in Jean Paul Satre’s vision of hell — a cramped room with no windows or mirrors and only one door.
The play follows the three characters’ internal struggle: Joseph Garcin (Paul Rodriguez), Inès Serrano (Amanda Machon) and Estelle Rigault (Jessica Meyers).
While it might not be obvious initially, each character has a chilling and terrible past that is revealed throughout the show as each character picks apart each others’ sins.
Truly, “Hell is other people.”
Montoya, who has directed short, 10-minute plays, takes his first crack at leading a
full-length play.
“This process has been grueling, so to say,” he said. “There are a lot of things that come with directing that I didn’t quite understand at first that I’m still learning now. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a good cast and a good crew — really talented individuals that have made my job a whole lot easier, while I’ve made their job a whole lot harder.”
Funded by SCRAP Productions, the play is student-run, said Morgan Harris, the SCRAP director. He said the organization helps local, thought-out productions.
“We learn how to create a show, not just be in it,” he said. “We fundraise; we make our own costumes, build our sets, act, direct, light and build our show from start to finish, and it is really interesting to see the final product.”
Actress Rachel Leos, also a SCRAP member, tackles “No Exit’s” fourth and most pivotal role. As a valet in hell, Leos’ job is to introduce each character to “the damned room.”
“There’s something to be said about someone who brings people into rooms in hell,” Leos said. “It’s a strange relationship that she has with all of the other characters, because she knows what everything is, (and) she knows what it’s like. She almost controls the world of the play without being in it at all. But there’s that dichotomy: She brings them in; they do the rest.”
Leos said words fall short in describing how it feels to attend rehearsal.
“You just feel this connection to the cosmos — and that sounds pretentious. but it’s not,” she said. “It’s kind of how we feel. When you’re on stage, there’s no way to describe that feeling.”
*“No Exit”
Theatre X in the Center for the Performing Arts
Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 28, 29, 30 at 7:30 p.m.
$12 General, $10 Faculty & Seniors, $8 Staff & Students*
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