The rambunctious riptide of a comedy “Somebody/Nobody” is the spring production at Tennessee Tech’s Backdoor Playhouse. Jane Martin’s topsy-turvy theatrical takedown of celebrity-obsessed culture was conceived in the late aughts/00s, before the boastful explosion of Instagram, which has only exacerbated our addiction to a daily dose of likes, clicks, stories, and shares.
In her campus directorial debut, Jennifer Gallegos does an amazing job with this crazy content and the talented cast and crew. In the Director’s Note, she confesses that she loves this text because it’s silly, and she invites us all to forget our worries and woes for an evening of nonstop knee-slaps and gut-laughs. But as surrealistic and silly as the entire plot and premise are, there’s plenty inside to ponder more contemplatively about ego, identity, and human relationships. So come for the laughs, but stay for the self-awareness and self-love.
Playhouse newcomer Abby Mynatt is simply stunning as frustrated superstar Sheena, alternately cranky and charismatic and forever charming, even when Sheena is surely annoying everyone else on stage with her delightful diva moves. But Sheena is only one of several compellingly unstable characters. Just when you think things cannot get weirder or wonkier, they do, such as when Sheena’s show-stealing agent and notorious enabler Galaxy arrives on the scene, with Lily Cunningham’s captivating and eye-catching crash-and-burn interpretation. As bold and bizarre as all that is, Sheena’s punk-rock stalker portrayed by Drew Coburn is a small but sweetly strange part of the bigger picture. There’s incredible costuming and choreography to all this that just needs to be seen!
While Sheena is billed as the “somebody who wants to be a nobody,” the play’s primary comedic tension and contrast comes with Lolli, the folksy and endearing “nobody desperate to be a somebody.” Lee McGouirk’s down-home rendering of Lolli is more than a continental road trip apart from Sheena. That far-out cultural friction is more than Kansas-versus-California, it’s about how we are all vulnerable and insecure at some part of ourselves, no matter how we cover it up with overconfidence or chatty self-deprecation. These two powerful female leads really carry this story and captured this reviewer’s heart with their magnetic performances.
While Lolli’s colloquial coziness is also curious and courageous about choosing California, even greater contrast comes from the affable outsider Jo Don, a survivalist cousin from Kansas who has come hunting for Lolli but quickly has eyes for Sheena. Still motivated by his great work in the recent Godspell, Zeke Eckert energizes everyone with his jovial Joe Don. The intentionally tense space between the four main characters crackles with cut-up after cut-up. Also of note, Chris Margraves as Beverly rounds out the cast with a minor role that helps bring major closure toward the end of the second act.
Tumultuous and hilarious twists and turns are an amazing aspect of this off-the-rails inspection of the human personality. This over-the-top story entirely transpires in a simple but at times claustrophobic Los Angeles apartment with bars in the windows (shout-out for more great Playhouse set-design for this show).
Your time at this play will fly by due to the fast-pace frivolity, which does traffic in some red-state-versus-blue-state stereotypes and other content warnings that should be noted for some mild sexual situations, comedic violence, and awareness around self-harm. But all these dramatic devices contribute to an ultimately redemptive message that we all need to feel, about being comfortable in our own skins.
Once again, the student actors at the Backdoor Playhouse are bringing us engaging, enlightening, and entertaining theater. Don’t be a nobody, invite somebody and go check out this show!
-Andrew W. Smith, teacher, poet, DJ, and Cookeville’s local theater critic for 20 years
The Backdoor Playhouse is at the rear of the Jere Whitson Building, just off Mahler Avenue and the main quad in the heart of Tech’s campus.
Performance Dates:
April 24, 25, 26 at 7:30 PM with an additional matinee Saturday, April 26 at 2 PM.
May 1, 2, 3 at 7:30 PM
Tickets are only available at the door and general admission, so plan to arrive early to get your seat. General admission is $15. Seniors are $12. Students with I.D. are $5. On May 1 only, faculty and staff tickets are $5.
