During the week of November 12^th, the Stockton College Experimental Theater was transformed into a dilapidated apartment featuring a dusty living room, a horribly messy child’s bedroom, as well as another living room infested with cat toys and tuna cans.  The School of Arts and Humanities Theater program presented Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake) from Wednesday, November 12^th through Sunday, November 16^th.  The play, written by Sheila Callaghan, was directed, designed, and performed entirely by Stockton students under the supervision and production of Pamela Hendrick and Mark Mallett.  It took place in the Experimental Theater beneath the Performing Arts Center, encompassing the audience in the midst of a grieving family’s Christmas.

The play, directed by senior theater major Kate Sparacio, featured five cast members who played anything but a happy family.  A year following the tragic death of Father, Mother (played by senior Nicole Clark) is having severe anxiety in raising their eleven year old daughter Janice (sophomore Madelaine Welch).  Mother reaches out to her excitable sister Barbara (freshman Phoebe Gruetter) for help, but Barbara falls short in her abilities to truly understand Janice.  In their mourning of Father, Mother and Janice each fantasize about prominent male figures in their lives: for Mother, he is Harrison Ford, and for pre-teen Janice, he is pop star Justin Timberlake.  All three male figures are played by senior John Wisienski.  While the emotional distress eats at both mother and daughter, the Apartment (played by junior Evan Williamson) is personified and, falling apart both physically and emotionally, plots the death of the negligent family.  The show is characterized by extremely dark humor and sexual overtones, as well as the underlying message about the importance of family and the grieving process.

Welch, Clark, Gruetter, Wisienski and Williamson all did a fantastic job in bringing their characters to life.  I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and I applaud Kate Sparacio in her ability to envision Crumble (Lay Me Down Justin Timberlake) and then organize such a highly effective team to bring across a difficult message.  The School of Arts and Humanities Theater Program spares no expense in producing high quality shows, and I will definitely be attending future productions.

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey hosted its 2014 homecoming festivities the weekend of October 9^th through 12^th.  “Heroic Homecoming and Family Weekend”, as it was titled, was sponsored by the office of student development in an effort to enhance school spirit amongst students, family, and alumni.  Sports events, art galleries, performances, formal dances, comedians, and guest speakers were scheduled to fill the weekend with excitement.  The main family event, however, took place the morning of Saturday, October 10^th, in the Big Blue gymnasium.  Families and students were invited to watch clubs and organizations drive their decorated golf carts around the gym, and then welcomed to stay after for a barbeque and carnival.

Though the parade and carnival were originally scheduled to be held outside in parking lot five, inclement weather forced the event indoors.  Families and spectators sat along the bleachers while each club prepared the final touches on the golf carts.  Organizations represented at the parade included the Student Entertain Team, Greek Life, Theater club, Cooking club, Physics club, and many others.  Each one was decorated in accordance with the superhero theme; for example, the American Sign Language club’s cart featured ‘The Blue Ear’, a deaf super hero.  Each club selected a driver, and the carts were led around the gymnasium twice to the enjoyment of all, including judges.

After the parade, students and visitors were entertained by Stockton’s Faculty Band. Bounce houses and games were available for the young and young-at-heart, and barbeque meals were sold.  Despite the inclement weather outside, the party was lively inside Big Blue.  I enjoyed seeing the creativity of each student organization’s golf cart, and I also enjoyed the school spirit that flowed into each person, young or old, who walked into the gym.  The 2014 Heroic Homecoming parade and carnival was a success.

On the evening of September 24, 2014 at 7:30, the doors to the Richard Stockton Campus Center Theater opened up to approximately fifty students waiting in line for the comedy show “Whose Line is it Anyway?”.  The comedy show, hosted by the Stockton Theater Club, features seven student performers who act out a series of improvisational games that often include audience participation.  Performances are held monthly, and each month introduces new cast members as well as returning veterans such as show host Amber Pierdinock.

Before entering the theater, audience members had the opportunity to write down suggestions for two games:  “Party Quirks” and “One-Liners”.  These suggestions, written on scraps of paper, would be selected at random from buckets at various points in the show.  Upon entering the theater, audience members were greeted by the cast sitting on stage: senior host Amber Pierdinock, senior co-host Josh Dutko, seniors John Wisienski and Madelaine Welch, junior transfer student Madeleine Favazza, and freshmen Christian Jimenez, Phoebe Gruetter, and myself, Erin Toye.  As the show started, audience members quickly picked up on the style of comedy, giving suggestions for scene prompts, actions, and character-choice.  With a few minutes remaining in the show, senior cast members performed a final skit known as “Helping Hands”, in which John and Madelaine acted as arms and hands for Josh and Amber during a spoof of a cooking show.  The audience was left in an uproarious laughter as Josh and Amber attempted to make a sandwich with “their” hands, ultimately ending in a mixture of ingredients tossed both in their faces and on the ground.  The actors took their bows and with a final applause, the audience exited the theater with laughter.

Overall, as a performer I am glad to see that the audience enjoyed the comedic improvisational show.  I also am lucky to have joined the theater troop and have bonded with colleagues whom I am happy to call friends.  I will be participating in more events with the Stockton Theater Club, including next month’s rendition of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”, and we hope to draw an even bigger audience.