Highlights

Campus News

Wildcat Weekly Minute for Nov. 17, 2011

A look at what's happening on campus this week.

Faith

Cleansed through the Cross

Dr. Quarles speaks on the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice at weekly chapel

Sports

LC hoops teams wrap up homestand with pair of wins

Off to Ozarks, UT-Dallas next

Organizations

LC media student give to Toys for Tots

More than 100 toys will help local charity

Campus Life

February is Heart Health Awareness Month

Stay healthy and 'God Red'

Culture

All the Shakespeare you could laugh at… and more!

tlc's adaptation of 'Shakespeare Abridged' pulls out all the stops

Special Coverage

LC brings another successful ‘Follow the Star’

'Christmas on the Hill' and 'Gala' add to festive weekend

‘Boys Next Door’ incites laughs, tears

by Nicole Richmond

Theatre Louisiana College brings laughter and a thought-provoking plot to MPAC.

For the first time in many years Theatre Louisiana College performed two different plays during the Fall Semester.

Although the addition of a second play stretched the schedules of everyone involved in the production, the audience would never have known it.

After producing “Yentl” in late September and early October, the crew turned the theatre around in less than a month as a new cast prepared to take the stage again. Though most actors only performed in one of the two plays, junior theatre major John Willie filled major roles in both. Despite the hasty transition, Theatre Louisiana College’s production of “The Boys Next Door” filled the auditorium with laughs and a few tears.

This reality-based dramatic comedy chronicles the lives of four mentally handicapped men and their caretaker. Arnold Wiggins, played by Cameron Weatherford; Norman Bulansky, played by Holy Savior Menard High School’s Michael Canella; Barry Klemper, played by John Willie; and Lucien P. Smith, played by Brad Duffy, tax the patience and warm the heart of their caretaker Jack, played by Kris Prestridge.

The play begins with Arnold Wiggins, a self-proclaimed nervous man, scrambling to hide from Jack the groceries he was teased into buying. The other three men living in the apartment quickly fill the stage and the laughter only increases as the play goes on.

The wonderful blend of comedy and a sweet romance between Norman and his dancing partner/girlfriend Sheila, played by Jessica Galloway, only highlights the tragedy so thinly veiled by the mundane events of the boys’ everyday life.

Although the boys seem to be, for the most part, content with their lives, Jack’s character provides the contrast with what each of the boys could have been, what some would argue they should have been. Underneath all the laughter of the play, is a slight tension. The audience laughs at the boys for their antics, for which their handicapped mental capacities are to blame.

The play, therefore, poses an uncomfortable question for the audience: Can you laugh at them for being mentally handicapped? Do they deserve our pity or our laughter?

Many different opinions can be gathered on the subject, and some playgoers may simply choose to ignore the question altogether. But their refusal to acknowledge the question does not make it go away.

As the play unfolds, the audience begins to see the darker side to each boy’s life. Although their mental abilities leave them unable to do even some of the simplest chores, outside influences challenge the boys even further. Some respond by running away, some by pushing through and one even collapses into a state of complete withdrawal.

Jack makes every effort to be a patience caregiver. He cannot fix the boys, but he does try his hardest to guide them, love them, laugh with them, cry with them and somehow find the strength to continue in this difficult job.

The cast and crew created a beautiful play. The set, the preparations, the closing bows and everything in between fulfill even the highest expectations. This laughter-inducing, thought-provoking play does not waste a minute of the audience’s time.

(Theatre Louisiana College is performing “The Boys Next Door” at the Louisiana College Theatre Festival that is being held in late November in New Orleans. The “Wildcat” staff would like to wish everyone involved good luck at the competition.)

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