There is a little-known theater group at Hopkins that, although low-key, provides some of the best performances on campus. Theatre Hopkins, founded in 1921 as an extension of the English department, is a semi-professional community theater group that is the second oldest theater troupe in Baltimore.
Currently performing in the Swirnow Theater, Spinning Into Butter, a play by Rebecca Gilman, is their latest production in Theatre Hopkins's 86th season.
First performed in 1999, Spinning Into Butter created both praise and controversy due to its themes of racism, discrimination and white guilt.
The play takes place in a small Vermont college and centers around the new dean of student life, Sara Daniels.
Spurred by a series of hate crimes perpetrated against an African-American student, Simon Brick, the administration and students react in an attempt to create an environment of tolerance. However, most of these actions backfire and in doing so, Gilman addresses the issue that political correctness stymies discussion about racism and tolerance.
The play, however, is not all doom and gloom but is equally a comedy about the miscommunication between administrators and students in academia--something Hopkins students can certainly relate to.
Jokes such as, "the sophomores always get the short straw," ring true for college students and give an added dimension to the play that older audience members might not appreciate.
The fumblings of the deans in the pursuit of "doing the right thing" provide innumerable laughs. This is partly due to the content, partly due to the script, and mostly due to the excellent comedic timing of many of the actors.
It seems that Theatre Hopkins has managed to find some of the best theater talent in Baltimore.
Lisa Hodsoll, who plays the protagonist, Dean Sara Daniels, does a nice job of transitioning from the comedic scenes to the more serious.
Her monologue in the second act on personal guilt and her own racist thoughts is one of the finest moments of theater in the production.
She is moving, realistic and provocative; while at first the audience might be abhorred by her admittance to her fear of African-American populations, her performance also forces each viewer to re-evaluate his or her own subtly and often unintentionally racist behaviors.
Dr. Ross Collins, played by Todd Pearthree, managed an excellent balance between oddball professor and intimate friend to Hodsoll's character.
A nice mannerism adapted by Pearthree is a clap of his hands for emphasis. This is one of the many ways that he makes Dr. Collins a more natural and believable character.
Dianne Hood and J.R. Lyston make the perfect comedic tag team as Deans Catherine Kenney and Burton Strauss, however, Lyston takes the cake with his fabulous portrayal of a bumbling academic who tries to connect with students.
Acting abilities definitely improve with age as was evidenced in the performance. Chris Krysztofiak played a fine, but frankly unmemorable, student, Greg Sullivan, and Michael Byrne Zemarel exaggerated his role quite a bit. Is it really believable that a student would scream, red in the face with veins popping, at a dean of a college? Not really.
Overall, Gilman's script is quite good. The issue of the "out-of-touch" administrators is managed perfectly and the complex relationship between Pearthree and Hodsoll provides a nice alternative to Hodsoll's character away from her academic duties. It also provides a forum for the audience to discover more about Hodsoll's past and personal views.
Gilman excels at one liners, such as, "Stop thinking you have black friends just because you got along with Nanny," and simply states ideas that others are afraid to, like, "To idealize is to fundamentally make different" and "Most people are racist, they just don't know they're racist."
However, Gilman also has a few stinkers, that include, "I hate you because you totally suck," which is unrealistic coming from the dean of student life.
This is inidicative of a number of scriptural failings. For example, there is a small snippet of phone conversation between Hodsoll's character and her mother on the phone in which the audience discovers that the mother is drunk, however, Gilman never capitalizes on it.
Also, while Michael O'Connell does a perfectly nice job depicti-ing the friendly and sagacious police officer, his role seems disposable. Lastly, Gilman intentionally never brings Simon Brick on-stage so there is no response, no opinion expressed from the African-American point of view.
While Gilman might have seen this as new way to approach racism, pointing out that rather than creating a harmonious, tolerant society with our concepts of social "rightness," we have created a world of suspicion. However, the audience, just feels a lacking in perspective.
Bill Roche, technical director and responsible for the set design, did a beautiful job creating the inside of Dean Daniels' office, the environment in which the entire play takes place.
A rich mahogany desk, lamps, luscious blue walls and a fabulous book collection transform the Swirnow Theatre into a college administration office.
The name of the play, Spinning Into Butter, is quite the conundrum until the very end of the play when Lyston's character tells the story of the "Little Black Sambo" who was tricked by a couple of tigers.
The tigers begin to quarrel with each other and run around a tree, spinning so fast, that they spin into butter. The "Little Black Sambo" then eats up the butter with his pancakes and then goes home.
At first glance, this story appears to have no connection whatsoever to the story. However, with a closer inspection and of course, with a viewing of the play, one discovers the parallel story lines.
The end of the play brings its themes to the forefront, leaving the audience with many issues, personal, social and political, to think about. Theatre Hopkins takes these issues and makes them all the more pressing with a truly provocative and moving performance.
Theatre Hopkins's production of Spinning Into Butter will continue this weekend at the Swirnow Theatre on Feb. 29 at 8 p.m., March 1 at 8 p.m. and March 2 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 and student rush tickets are $5 at the door if seats are available.
