Written By Robert Weihofen

Concordia’s Theater group was at it again when they put on a great performance of “Roustabout.” A historical fiction based on a circus train wreck that happened in the late 1910’s, the play came from the creative mind of Jay Torrence and director Halena Kays. The cast was a small one as it only sported six members, but it took an event not many people know about and walked the line of tragedy and comedy straight into the audience’s hearts.

By citing historical facts and dates, the play brought the audience to the time period and set the timeline straight in their minds. The play was telling a story of three people who were part of the circus that were on the train during the crash, while also telling about the crash itself.

The mixing of character exploration and the history of the crash is where the play seemed to run into a small problem, as it was hard to identify the central plot. At times it seemed like the story was going to dig deeper into the train crash itself, but then it would go off to explore one of the main characters. This technique would lose the audience at times. Along with this, as  characters would talk more about who they were and what they did, it would be interrupted by the line “Why is the train stopped?” The line broke the scene and fragmented the play.

One of the neat things about this play, however, was the breaking of the fourth wall, which has often been frowned upon in theater. The Concordia Theatre Department worked with the Chicago theater company The Neo-Futurists. They were able to put on a skilled show that was also very visually appealing. It was colorful and kept your senses engaged the entire play. There was creative use of sound affects along with lighting techniques throughout the play.

Overall, the play was very well done and you could tell that the cast put everything they had into it. All their long hours and hard work paid off as they seem to be having a great opening weekend. Every other minute it seemed as if there was laughing in the crowd as the Clown added comic relief through much of the play.

For being a very small cast, it was one of the best plays that ACT has put on in recent years, and has gotten nothing but positive feedback. The play was so engaging that, even with the small cast, the show used them in such interesting ways that you did not get tired of seeing the same people over and over again.

If you were able to see the play here on campus, you saw an enjoyable production. The entire cast was wonderful, and the crew did a great job with the set and visuals. If you were not able to see it, I would highly recommend that you try and find a theater that is showing the play and go see it for yourself.