Sometimes college students take creative writing assignments a little too far. Would it be crazy if the most outrageous creative writing assignments turned out to be less fiction and more truth?
Timeline Theatre brings a play called Harmless that speaks of a college student by the name of Ben Navarro who turns in an extremely controversial creative writing assignment. A seemingly irresponsible professor by the name Jim McFehren (David Parkes) photocopies the assignment (without reading it) and distributes it to the students.
The students were pretty disturbed by the story about Ben’s life in the Iraqi army. The story included stories of him being forced to give oral sex, viewing people dying in fires and being slaughtered, and a lot more devastating stories of army life.
A student publishes his work in the Prall University newspaper causing a big stir around campus. When the article makes it to the president of the school, Daniel Wesson (John Jenkins), he decides to call the U.S. Army. They send over a lady by the name of Lieutenant Mindy Ergenbright (Juliet Hart) who was a criminal psychologist in the Army. After the three characters come together to discuss this matter, there is an over-opinionated argument and a power struggle between all characters.
The psychologist decides to talk to Navarro and tries to protect him because she feels that he is a genuinely good person. She argues with Wesson that Navarro was telling his professor what he went through in the army. Each argue the fact that Navarro may be telling the truth or just have a very active imagination. No one knows and no one ever truly finds out.
The play ran for only 54 minutes with no intermission. After the play ended, the audience was left clueless. That seems to have been the playwright’s, Brett Neveu, objective. He is known to write plays that show his ability to withhold information, mysterious plays about important issues and struggle.
Harmless has that sense of mystery that is not found in too many plays. Too much mystery may be a bad idea for plays. Neveu made it work for Harmless. Director Edward Sobel must have known that the play would raise a lot of questions. After the play, there was a 30-minute discussion. The discussion was insightful and gave the audience a clear idea as to what the play was really about.
The play deals with a challenging issue and is a challenge to its performers. In the discussion, the actors were asked some pretty complex questions. Some of the questions that were raised the actors also raised to the director, who spoke with the playwright.
Though Ben was not a visible character in the play, it was amazing how the play centered on him. The characters played their roles perfectly. John Jenkins played the role of John McFehren. He was the type of professor that no one should hire. He was both irresponsible and childish.
The president of the school was the type of man that no one should work for. His father, a former president of the university, should not have passed that position down to him. He took advantage of his authority and had a habit of switching peoples’ words around to fit his view. He was quite unfair.
Ergenbright was a very anal almost overly serious woman whenever she had on her uniform, but when her uniform was off, she lost her sense of authority. There was a complete power struggle between the three.
Harmless could be compared to a very good piece of literature. There were moments where the audience had to critically think. Viewing the play was more than mere entertainment. It was also an experience. There was a deep thought requirement. Anyone is bound to walk away a little confused if they don’t stick around for discussion.
The show runs through March 18. The tickets range from $15-$25, 773.281.8463.