Because I give myself permission on Thursday evenings to take a break from hitting the books too much, right after I finished my two-hour shift at the Writing Center, I met up with some friends in Red Square so we could walk over to the theater to watch McDaniel Theatre’s production of Buried Child.
I knew I had wanted to see Buried Child as soon as I heard about it because the show is dark; the theatre department tries to put on shows from a variety of genres from musicals to things that are completely serious. McDaniel College theatre hadn’t done a show so macabre during my time on campus, so I figured that this drama, written by Sam Shepard, was one worth seeing. I also have a number of friends involved in the theatre, so I also wanted to support them by going.
With a cast of seven talented students, Buried Child was certainly interesting to watch. The play deals with a dysfunctional, poor family living in rural Illinois who have a dark, mysterious secret. The first half of the play kept me and the rest of the audience guessing what exactly the family was hiding and why no one seemed to have any idea who anyone else was. And when the big secret was revealed in the second half of the play, my friends and I still weren’t quite sure what to make of it–how truthful was the big revelation?
Overall, Buried Child was a great show and it definitely had my friends and I talking as we left the theater. The show left us with a lot of questions, but in a good way–the kind of way that made us think and think hard. I know that if I can find some time this weekend, I might find myself looking up some scholarly criticism on the play to see what ways people who are more versed in theater and literature than I am have interpreted this play.
If you’re local, there’s still two more chances to see Buried Child: Friday October 3 and Saturday October 4, both nights at 7:30 p.m. in McDaniel’s WMC Alumni Hall. Want to learn more about the show? Read this McDaniel Free Press article written by two first year students.
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