University Playhouse provides lopsided presentation

The University Playhouse at Texas A&M University-Commerce presented its production of "1000 Proms" and "Dump Monkeys" Feb. 28 to a full house. This show is an interesting balance of human emotions, but one play really seems to outweigh the other.

A'Mari Jo Rocheleau gives a powerful performance in "1000 Proms" as Sally Carruthers, who is a bit of a religious fanatic to say the least. Rocheleau's performance was almost flawless throughout the show, as she transitions from various moods and emotions. As an audience member, I can only imagine how stressful it must be to perform an entire show completely alone, but Rocheleau pulled it off, and that's an understatement.

Throughout the show, you are given glimpses into Carruthers's past and what has helped to make her the person she is. It's been a troubling life for Carruthers and her mother, but things begin to look better once she accepts Jesus, and all that other religious babble.

The best thing about this performance is how blunt Carruthers can be to the students that bother her in her daily life. I thought students at A&M-Commerce could be mean, but Carruthers takes the cake on soul-searing quips. I wish that I could be as enthusiastic about the second part of the show, "Dump Monkeys".

While "Dump Monkeys" did have great acting, I was deeply confused about what was going on in this play for most of the time. This play follows a couple of the "Dump Monkeys" and a recently exiled woman in a time of tribulation in a huge landfill, but we never get an explanation as to why these people have been forced out of civilization, who's hunting them, or what happened to this huge mass of Texas.

The director of "Dump Monkeys" aimed for Mabel, a disabled and mostly-crazy exile, to be a notable character, but I just didn't make any connection with her. I don't know who she was before being exiled or what caused the change in her life, or even what drove her to the edge of sanity. All I know about her is that her legs were crushed by some giant being (they never explained what that was either), that she used to have a child, and that the only thing she remembers from her past is a song that her mother used to sing to her, ironically enough, about a mother who drowns her own children.

The one thing that was highly impressive in "Dump Monkeys" was the set design and the props. The crew did a great job of piecing together garbage, random objects, and even the front half of a car to bring this story to life. I was really impressed with their ability to make certain things look real, as well.

I think that this play would do much better if it were presented in its entirety. One act of this play just doesn't do it justice. That way we could get more explanation about the situation these characters are facing and have a chance to develop a connection with them. Without that, we're just a lost as the characters themselves.