Breahna Lesemann –
On October 25 and 30, and November 1 and 2, the Illinois College Theatre Department put on a production of Mud, River, Stone featuring several IC students.
Mud, River, Stone is a play written by Lynn Nottage, a writer who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for a previous play called Ruined. The IC production of the play was directed by Aasne Daniels, a visiting professor here at IC. “I chose this play primarily because there are a number of students of color in the drama department that I wanted to showcase,” Aasne said.
She originally wanted to adapt Ruined, but this play had too many men in it, and there are not enough men in the drama department to fill the roles. She read through other plays written by Nottage, but she liked the story and message of Mud, River, Stone the best.
In this play, an African-American couple travels to Africa to see their roots, and through a series of misfortunes, they find themselves in the middle of nowhere at the Imperial Hotel. The rain pours nonstop and the phone lines are out, forcing the couple to stay in the hotel for longer than they would like with a series of unique characters that find themselves at the hotel for their own reasons. This whole group is taken hostage by the bell hop, and in this hostage situation the audience learns about each character.
David is the husband in the American couple and is played by Hyelharra Banu. is character was the one who wanted to go to Africa to explore their roots. His wife, Sarah, was played by Zipporea Abdulmalik.
Joaquim, the bellhop, was played by Squire Prince. Joaquim is a native Africa and despite his young age fought ten years in a civil war to improve the people’s living situations. He takes the hotel hostage demanding a nice blanket that he had promised his mother and grain for his village.
Mr. Blake is a businessman played by Drew Stroud. Although Mr. Blake was born in Africa he does not identify with the culture. His main focus is business.
Ama is Nigerian, played by Oyinda Oshiafi, who came to the hotel to use the phone to see when the supply phone would be coming, though she truly wished to see Maximo, who worked at the hotel before Joaquim.
Neibert is a Belgian, played by Wilson Webel, who came to Africa and decided that he would join the African culture.
Simone is a French ambassador, played by Jasmin “Nonnie” Falk, who was brought in to negotiate with Joaquim, but finds herself unprepared for the situation she encounters at the hotel.
Almost every single person had to do some work with a different accent. Two of the actors, Banu and Prince, came to the auditions with the accents they used for the play. Falk learned her accent from French friends. A Belgian accent can either be French or German and Webel decided to use a French accent.
The most difficult accent was that of Mr. Blake, played by Stroud. This accent is an Afrikaans dialect which originated with Dutch settlers in Africa. Stroud was given books and watched Invictus to learn the accent.
The play had a diverse group of characters that were portrayed well by the actors, each showing their skills in being humorous or serious when needed, however some actors really caught the audience’s attention. It was certainly interesting to see Stroud playing Mr. Blake, quite a different character than what Stroude has played in previous productions. It really shows great talent in an actor when they can play a variety of characters.
Prince also showed unexpected promise, since this was his first production here on campus. His portrayal of Joaquim was very convincing, showing his different attitudes to the different characters even when not interacting with them. The transition from a working bellhop to a hostage taker is logical and seamless.
The entire play was engaging and well done. If the upcoming Senior One Acts and the production of Bonnie and Clyde next semester are done this well they will be well worth watching.
Breahna Lesemann, from Bath, Illinois, is a sophomore majoring in English Education with a minor in Theatre at Illinois College. Breahna is a writer for the The Rambler and a member of the IC concert choir.
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