California Lutheran University’s Theatre and Dance Department performed “No Exit,” a student-directed play by senior Riley Herbert. The play features three students trying to figure out why they are brought together in Hell.
The show ran from Thursday, Oct. 17 to Sunday, Oct. 20. The original play was written by French playwright Jean-Paul Sartre in 1944. Herbert said the inspiration for choosing this play was based on her work in the Cal Lutheran’s Political Science Department.
Herbert said she is currently doing an honors thesis on restorative justice, focusing largely on rehabilitation and figuring out why people commit crimes.
The play is about three characters who arrive in Hell after their death, and they are stuck in a hotel room trying to figure out why they are together. Ultimately, they find out that they will be together for all eternity as punishment for their actions while alive. The main theme of the story is what happens when a person has done bad things and what consequences come after and subsequently, trying to accept those consequences.
“So, it’s thinking a lot about the consequences of our actions and how we justify them and how we accept them, how we move on from them, how we make representations from them,” Herbert said.
Cast member Rhianna Smith, who plays Estelle, said the play is deep and discusses a lot of sensitive subjects.
“The show is dramatic, it’s comedic, and there are some moments of intimacy that I think is suspenseful for the audience between Estelle and Cradeau, as well as Inez and Estelle,” Smith said.
Smith said when she and the other cast members did their first read-through six weeks ago, they were overwhelmed with the content and the lines.
“For me, personally, this is new to me. I have been in a musical, the ‘Starmites,’ last year, and then ‘Almost, Maine’ my sophomore year, but this is like nothing like I have done before,” Smith said. “I think the growth with me and my cast members have been tremendous, just feeling comfortable with everything and, I mean, just working well with each other.”
Additionally, Smith said they check in a lot and ask each other how they have been doing during rehearsals.
“We’re really focused on us as the actor and not the character, so I think that really does help when we get to know each other personally, on a personal basis, rather than just treating each other like our characters,” Smith said. “Obviously on stage, acting like our characters, but off stage it’s important to bond.”
Smith said one of her favorite memories during the rehearsal process was completing the whole play without using their script and with no line call.
“That was really a good feeling for all of us,” Smith said. “We went to celebrate with In-N-Out as a cast.”
Cast member Emma Simpson, who plays Inez, said they spent a lot of time learning these lines, which made it difficult to act full out, but seeing it all come together with the costumes and the lighting makes it worth their last week of rehearsal.
“I really liked watching these characters grow throughout the rehearsal process, not just for myself but for everyone else because we know it’s, like, an awesome script, an incredible show,” Simpson said.
Simpson said the play was a challenge and it was new for several cast members, but that she and other cast members have grown closer because of it.
“Our friendships and our connections have grown and that’s made, like, chemistry on stage seem better, and just, yeah, again, like, just watching everyone come into their characters has been great,” Simpson said. “I’m really proud of them. It’s a lot of work but I’m just proud of us.”
