by KAREN STEELE
The lights were out. The entire auditorium was dark. Slowly, the lights came on... and lead Christopher Moran was asleep in his underwear, as was his nerdy subconscious counterpart, played by Sam Miller. McLoughlin's newest drama play is a hilarious comedy called Mind Over Matt.
“It's been a really fun adventure, and it's a smaller cast than we've had before,” said Director Melissa Cunnington, comparing this play to ones in the past. “It's a little bit different than what we've done before, so it's exciting that we're attempting something a little bit more challenging for us.” In years past, she has had to work hard to find a play with enough parts so everyone in the drama class who wanted to be in the play could. For this semester's play, she tried something new: choosing a play with a small cast and opening up the opportunity for everyone in the school to audition.
Despite all of the jokes cracked (along with the Star Trek references out the wazoo), Mind Over Matt offers the opportunity to take a much closer look at why people do the things they do. The different personalities of Matt (played by Moran) are personified by Taylor Johnson, Collin Green, Sam Miller, Marcos Saldaña, and David James, who, respectively represent Matt's responsible, vain, nerdy, curmudgeonly, and misogynistic sides. Together, the five personalities take turns controlling what Matt does and says, bearing similarities to Pixar's Inside Out, but with a very unique feel and atmosphere.
The actors have put lots of effort into their play, as shown in their near-perfect synchronization when Matt hits his head on the table and all five of his personalities react at the same time. Both Saldaña and Miller put lots of time into developing the voices of their characters; Saldaña with a gravelly tone that sounds like it would hurt his throat and Miller with a constant, nasally whine. Moran did a great job keeping himself occupied while not distracting the audience during the soliloquies of the personalities, and Cynthia Ruiz (playing Rose) bravely had a glass full of water tossed at her.
Katie Torres (Ms. Killian) dominated the stage with her powerful presence as she stalked back and forth, demanding the audience's attention as she delivers her icy lines. The cast also shares a sense of familiarity, like they all have known each other for Matt's whole life, proven when they march together in a drunken conga line and cracking up while making (terrible) puns. The role of Matt's cranky landlord, Mrs. Snyder (Grace Miller) reaps laughter, as does the friendly banter between the Devil and the Angel (Sandra Pereyda and Ashley Gardner), who take turns making good and bad choices for Matt.
As always, this Mac-Hi play delivers, providing a chance for students to see their peers in completely different ways (i.e. in their underwear, drinking from sippy cups, wearing each other's underwear, and some butt-slapping). All in all, Mind Over Matt is another great performance by the Pioneers and Mrs. Cunnington, with props to the crew (Mackenzie Norton, Grace Merritt, and Cynthia Lozano) and Todd Cunnington for his continued willingness to help with stage setup.
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| Samuel Miller, seen tied up. Johnson helped, while James, Green, and Saldana stood by. |
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| Torres places a gentle hand on Moran's shoulder while Saldana enjoys the view, and Miller, James, Green, and Johnson run away in fear. |
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| Pereyda looks at Ruiz and Moran lovingly. |
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| The entire crew: Lozano, Merrit, Ruiz, Torres, James, Samuel Miller, Moran, Johnson, Saldana, Green, Gardner, Grace Miller, and Pereyda. Not pictured: Mackenzie Norton. |
Some memorable quotes:
- “Good morning, testosterooomies!” - Rose (Johnson)
- “Ms. Killian? More like Mrs. Kill-Her-Men!” - Dylan (Green)
- “Who do you think is the best [James] Bond?” - Matt, asking Penny (Ruiz), a potential love interest, the most important question
- “Halo everybody!” - Angel (Gardner) to Devil (Pereyda)
- “She wants to have our babies!” - Butch (James)
- “We're sorry... That your stupidity forced us to hurt you!” - Dylan
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