Elevator Repair Service (ERS) shares its ideas with Bowling Green State University (BGSU) with The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, based on a utopian novel written by George Saunders in 2005.
ERS is a New York-based group that creates original pieces. They were founded in 1991 and are an award-winning group for experimental theatre.
BGSU students and the ERS ensemble performed on Oct. 8 at the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center. Their performance consisted of three parts, each lasting approximately 15 minutes. Students and ERS members had only five days to prepare for this performance.
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is about two countries, Inner Horner and Outer Horner. These two countries are fighting throughout the whole play. Outer Horner wants to keep Inner Horner citizens in their small country, unable to immigrate to Outer Horner. The Outer Horner is run by King Phil and the Inner Horner is led by President Rick. In the end, both countries come together.
The play began with multiple boxes in the center stage. Various actors went onto the stage with boxes, adding them into the middle. Phil came out and ordered those actors to stand on the boxes. The boxes represented the country, Inner Horner while the outside is Outer Horner.
Ella Wessel, a sophomore majoring in musical theatre, who played Phil, shared how this experience was different than other shows she has starred in.
“My favorite part was probably being a character that I usually don’t play because I was Phil in this circumstance, which was the villain. I’m used to playing the bubbly princess. It was really fun,” Wessel said.
In part two, King Phil came out on stage speaking to the audience, while actors came on stage. Some actors came to help him while others opposed him. Phil ordered his supporters to stop those who opposed him and in the end, all the actors united together to stop King Phil.
Jonathan Chambers, the chair of BGSU’s Department of Theatre and Film, wants students to have the opportunity to work many jobs rather than just one.
“When students apply to be a part of this program, we ask them to identify what they want to do. Be a performer, a director, a designer or a stage manager and then they quickly found out that they were going to be doing all of those things,” Chambers said.
The final part of the play has the Outer Horner citizens as guards and the Inner Horner citizens as prisoners. King Phil comes out with “Phil’s Orders” and tells the guards to capture the prisoners. The Inner Horner President Rick then comes out to challenge King Phil. The citizens from both sides came together to fight against King Phil.
Daniel Tewolde, an undecided freshman who played the president, shared his main takeaway from this play.
“How to prepare a piece in under a week. You had to get everything down and it was just a really nice experience,” Tewolde said.
John Collins, the Founder and Artistic Director of ERS, shared how ERS was first started, something that the BGSU students took inspiration from.
“It was something that you could use as a huge handicap that we had no money, no place to work but just each other and a bunch of junk. That was how we started. I think we started a kind of practice and a kind of step back then, it was all about making performance out of what you have around you,” Collins said.
After the show, Collins talked to Chambers and the audience about the role of being a director.
“I see my role as a director as someone who is watching these things begin to sort of bubble up in this rehearsal environment. There has to be a task,” Collins said. “There has to be something, everyone’s trying to do together so that you know whether it works or it doesn’t work, there’s an energy driving it over.”
