Still Life With Iris

This past weekend, October 14-17, the Plymouth Theatre students put on five performances of the play "Still Life With Iris" by Steven Dietz, at the Silver Center. With a cast of 13 members, the fantasy adventure play was both entertaining and funny as many of the actors took on multiple roles to demonstrate their ability to fit the persona of different characters.

The play begins with the main character Iris, played by senior Lauren Patterson, in the land of Nocturno where natural elements like leaves, animal spots, rain, and thunder are created during night time. The best of every element created, is then sent to Great Island where they have one of everything that is considered perfection. Iris seems to be living a happy life with her mother (senior Marni Balint), until she decides to use her unique ability to locate lost things, to find her father the Day Breaker (junior James Lee McEnerny) who mysteriously disappeared.

Each member of Nocturno wears a colorful coat, which contains the memories of who they are. Before Iris embarks on a journey to find her father, she is told by Mister Matternot from Great Island (also played by James Lee McEnerny) to remove her coat. She is left to continue on her search with only a button from her coat, and the memory of an artist's still life: white chairs and a table with a white vase holding a single iris. In the absence of her memories, Iris is forced to discover who she is, bringing into question the idea of what defines us when we are separated from our memories. On her journey she holds on to the visual image of the still life, using it to guide her home and reunite her family. In a happy fairytale ending, Iris also is able to discover who she really is.

The colorful costumes and mystical sets accompanied the animated acting, which brought the play to life. It was also enhanced by senior Amanda Teneriello, who gave a memorable acrobatic performance as the character Annabel Lee, using silk rope that extended from the rafters. In the front cover of the play program, the cast included a note on their process in developing the play into a masterpiece and said, "We have inquisitively ventured into our own "unknowns" in the creation of this production."  By thoroughly exploring the play's central theme of being curious rather than lost, the cast and crew allowed their individual curiosities push them above and beyond to present an outstanding performance.