Ephebophilia Finding Love In All The Wrong Ages Report Example

I. Thesis Statement
The production of Ephebophilia I watched was a really fascinating, creepy and surprisingly humorous and heartfelt show about the differences between who we think we are and who we really are.
II. Overview:
1. The title of the play is Ephebophilia.
2. Ephebophilia was written by Dusty Wilson.
3. The group that produced Ephebophilia was an independent group for just this show, called The Phebe Project.
4. I saw this play at the Collaboration space in the Fine Arts Building in Wicker Park, Chicago, IL.
5. I saw this show on January 18, 2014, on its opening night at 7:30PM.
6. I paid $15 for the ticket, and bought it on brownpapertickets.com
7. The Collaboraction space does not have seat and row numbers, as it is a small space, but I sat in the third seat from the end on the front row of the downstage section of the theater.
8. I went to this show with a friend of mine, who also really liked the show and actually found it a lot funnier than they had anticipated.
III. Plot
The plot of Ephebophilia is, in essence, a three-character relationship drama with comedic elements. The inciting incident of the play occurs when Jackson, a young unemployed man married to Imogen, his wife, decides to concoct a plan to bait pedophiles and blackmail them for money to save their house. The major conflicts of the play include Imogen’s growing relationship with their chosen target, an unassuming middle-aged man named Alan, her dissatisfaction at her minimum-wage jobs and Jackson’s selfishness, and what to do with Alan once he actually shows up to their home. The climactic incident of the play is when Imogen stands up for herself and stops Jackson from hurting Alan for having no money to extort, letting him go. The denouement of the play involves Imogen and Jackson reluctantly continuing their search for new pedophiles to pay for their home.
One of the play’s great strengths is its sense of intrigue - the timeline of the play is a bit obscured, to help hide the couple’s plan from the audience, and to make it a mystery what exactly they’re going to do to Alan.
IV. Theme
The meaning of Ephebophilia is that we all lie about who we are to certain extents, and just because someone does or wants to do distasteful things does not excuse violent reprisals against them.
V. Characters
The protagonist of this play is Imogen, as she is the character we follow in all the scenes, and whose emotional journey makes up the majority of the play. The antagonist is Jackson, her husband, who dreams up the situation and is generally the more aggressive of the two in what to do about Alan. Alan is more of a passive subject for the other two characters to talk about, the ‘pedophile’ who represents the main issue of the play.
VI. Literary Quality or Diction
The script has a surprising amount of wit, as the author’s sense of humor shines through in the more innocent conversations Imogen and Alan have online. The script also contains quite a bit of ambiguity, as it becomes unclear just where Imogen’s loyalties lie, or whether or not she really is in love with Alan or Jackson.
VII. Music and Musicality (3 points)
The play is not a musical, but has a very interesting sound design. There are no source songs necessarily, but the scenes in which Imogen and Alan talk on the Internet have an interesting soundscape to them. Sound designer Sam Silva combined ambient electronic music with screechy tones to make the Internet world come alive, and one scene in which Alan gives his pretentious online dating profile as a monologue is underlined by a section from Holst’s “The Planets.”
VIII. Spectacle
The format of the play itself was a proscenium staging, with the set being open to both downstage and stage-left audiences.
The set, designed by T. Paul Lowry, was more or less a general living room setting, with a recliner, couch and other set dressings – but this was embellished by a large projection wall upstage and a hollowed-out TV and table around the space’s black pole, with cords and wires snaking up to the ceiling.
The lighting of the play (by Emma Deane) was very simple, with general cool and warm washes being used for real world and Internet world, but projectors imposed cool electronic textures on the walls for the Internet scenes (projections by T. Paul Lowry).
The costuming for the play (by Shawn Quinlan) was the only incongruous element; some pieces of clothing were sensible, but sometimes the clothing would get too broad, especially in the beginning, and Jackson’s suit was fairly baggy. However, the use of color was very good, especially in the end with Imogen’s Red Riding Hood-esque costume, which sold the individuality of the character’s role.
IX. Convention
The play itself used quite a few projections to convey its ideas, whether the textures on the Internet scenes or elsewhere. The play opens with Alan projected on the wall, looking into the space as he talks to Imogen; this sold both Imogen’s little girl in a ‘doll house’ impression, and the voyeurism of this kind of online communication. Projection slides were used for Jackson’s TEDTalk-like monologue about his plan and Alan’s Cosmos-like dating profile to act as extensions of their psyches.
X. Acting and Directing
Claire Saxe, who played Imogen, had a very difficult job to do effectively playing different characters. She had to play both 25-year-old real Imogen, dissatisfied with her dead-end job and aggressive husband, and the 15-year-old “Jenny” who was meant to bait Alan into coming. Her physicality and intonation changed dramatically between characters to an uncanny degree, and she gave a wonderful performance.
Arne Saupe, who played Alan, had an equally difficult job making a pedophile relatable – essentially, Alan is an extremely nice and lovesick guy who is just getting way over his head. The only thing wrong with him is that he is a pedophile, and he had a sense of nervous energy that, while making him a bit wooden as an actor, worked well with the character’s oddness and earnestness. His motivation was always very clear, and he was arguably the least duplicitous of the three characters.
Director Clint Worthington’s concept for the play was to draw the audience into a morally ambiguous and socially complex situation, where the lines between who you were supposed to root for and who you were to hate were blurred.
XI. Outstanding Moment
One of my favorite moments of the play was when Imogen’s online dating profile video came up on the projection wall, and Alan walked out and stood in front of the wall, watching it. It created a very powerful, unsettling image, and reminded us of how creepy it was that he was interested in what he thought was a teenage girl.
XII. The Event as Theater
This play definitely fits the class definition of theater, as it had actors on a stage, playing characters and behaving as though they were in a story of their own. Theatrical elements were used to convey complex ideas, and the play itself was very presentational in its format.
XIII. Summary
As a small, storefront play, I really liked Ephebophilia, and found it a great, if rough, work that shows a lot of promise. The play is stated to be a ‘world premiere,’ and so this is the first time it’s been produced; to that end, it feels unpolished in parts, but not to the degree that it is distracting. The three leads are all great actors, working with some difficult material, but they made great use of the space. Director Clint Worthington did a fantastic job of incorporating the presentational elements of the Internet world into the play without making it seem clichéd or cheap, and the fact the audience laughed so hard with the play’s jokes is a testament to how well they were able to shuffle between the comedy and drama. The final moment of the play is very unsettling, as Imogen resigns herself sadly to her fate and buries her emotions to start attracting the next pedophile on their list. I loved this play, and would not mind seeing more shows from this group in the future.
XIV. Works Cited
Worthington, Clint (dir.) Ephebophilia (play). Collaboraction Room 300, The Phebe Project.