"Gruesome Playground Injuries" delivers intensity on opening night
Allie Jackson stood in front of Alex Cabala, glaring at his motionless body. She hesitated before sitting on the hospital bed next to him.
Slowly, she reached her hands out and gently touched his head, attempting to ‘heal’ him like he claimed she could when they were younger.
Suddenly, she began to speak, her tone angry as she yelled at him. She asked herself why she’s visiting him, a now braindead man she rarely sees, who somehow managed to get struck by lightning.
“Gruesome Playground Injuries” by Rajiv Joseph is being held in the Moore Hall Platform Theater at 7:30 p.m. until Saturday. The show is directed by Lansing senior Scott Sorrell and consists of only two cast members, junior Jackson portraying Kayleen, an often angry woman with stomach problems, and senior Cabala portraying Doug, an accident-prone man who constantly is in bandages or crutches.
Admission is free and is recommended for mature audiences. The hour and a half long show consists of eight intimate scenes between the pair that shift between the ages 8 to 38.
“I liked it. It was really interesting and made you think about everything,” said Lansing senior Natalie Stoffer. “I liked scene four because you really were able to see how everyone felt.”
In scene four, a pink eye infected Doug visits Kayleen, carrying Girl Scout cookies. He’s bleeding slightly and admits to having just gotten in a fight with a larger peer who called Kayleen a “skank”. Doug then asks her why she’s acting so weird, which she admits to just having unwillingly having sex with her boyfriend and later hurting herself.
Doug gets angry and threatens to fight her boyfriend before Kayleen manages to calm him. She holds him as he begins to cry.
“Gruesome Playground Injuries” captured the honesty and rawness of the two characters as they transition between different stages of their lives. The half-filled audience chairs continuously filled with loud laughter as the pair share their first kiss, or somber silence as they argue about their messy lives or talk at Kayleen’s father’s wake.
“I thought it was funny and I was extremely moved by it,” said communication and dramatic arts professor Jody Price. “I liked it very much.”
