The theatre department put on an exquisite performance of Stephen Metcalf’s “Strange Snow” on Tuesday, June 12, through Friday, June 15.

The play, performed in the Black Box Theatre, takes place in Lowell, Mass., in the mid-70s, centered around Megs, David and his sister, Martha.

Megs, played by David Ryan, served in the Vietnam war with David and is an overly enthusiastic yet nervous “friend” of his.

He shows up seemingly unannounced one early morning to go fishing with David, who had since completely forgotten about the trip and was suffering from too much drinking the previous night.

Things do not go as planned for Megs, who first encounters Martha, a timid school teacher played by the beautiful Cassidy Morey, who is completely unaware of Megs’ identity and relationship to David.

The two men eventually do go fishing, much to the chagrin of David, and Martha tags along as well.

As the day goes on, the backstory behind Megs is unfolded as well as the surprising chemistry between Megs and the conservative Martha.

“Strange Snow” is assuredly an uncharacteristic work for the theater department, which generally favors large productions during the school year. This may put off many who do not want to see a three-person play in a small dark theater with a mostly older audience. However, the play more than surpassed any preconceived notions or expectations.

The scene is perfectly set up, mimicking a suburban house from the seventies such as the furniture that looks straight out of the Salvation Army and the record player with music by the likes of The Rolling Stones and Credence Clearwater Revival that played between each scene.

The theater may be small and dark, but it works to the advantage of the performance as it creates the intimate atmosphere needed.

The only misstep here was the music, which, despite set the seventies scene, was out of place at times simply because no music was played during the start or end of most of the scenes.

The performance is led by Rustin Myers’ excellent portrayal of David. Myers is able to truly capture all the hurt anger, sadness and love that David has bottled up inside him.

David, who served in Vietnam with Megs, has since bottled up all his emotions concerning what happened in the war, mostly concerning the death of his and Megs’ friend Bobby.

Myers is wonderful in showing his anger toward his often overbearing sister, which culminates into more than one shouting argument and threats to hit her.

Myers is able to really let David’s anger out here, yet later on David finally lets out his emotions, which culminate into tears.

While Myers is clearly better at performing the louder and more negative scenes, this outpouring of long-held-in feelings is the emotional climax of the performance.

Both Megs and Morey are able to slowly let their relationship open itself up as Megs is able to fulfill a romantic need that Martha the school teacher has never had satisfied before.

While Ryan may have the personality to play Megs, it seems as though he struggled a bit to find exactly how to portray the odd character. He tries a bit too hard and thus at times lays it on too thick, which detracts from the play as a whole.

He sometimes reaches the point of being so friendly and quirky that it takes away from the emotion of his performance, as well as causing his movements to be slower than necessary.

Both Ryan and Morey are able to portray the desires of their characters; however, it is Morey who stands out more.

Morey is more than convincing in her role as the insecure school teacher who never realizes her gifts and has never had the serious relationship she craves.

Morey is both conservative and timid as Martha would be, and is able to revert back to this as needed throughout the play, yet also is able to open up about what she wishes she had in life.

The only real problem here is that she does open up a bit too quickly. This seems less of an issue as she falls more and more for Megs and is able to actually be who she wants to be.

Morey is lovely as she eventually falls for Megs as the night goes on, and the two reenact a scenario in which they go to prom together.

The performance ends wonderfully with Morey shedding all of Martha’s self-doubts as the two slow dance to Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.”

You too may wish that you were Megs at that moment, as this reviewer did.

Glenn Schroeder is a Spanish senior and Vanguard staff writer. Reach him at
gsschroed@svsu.edu.