Caleb Straus, graduate student with the directing program, is directing “Big Love” by Charles Mee.
Straus said he was excited to have the opportunity to direct such a large production.
“One of the trade-offs of being able to direct on the main stage is they chose the play,” Straus said. “They had it lined up with their main stage season and I guess were working at trying to give something to a grad student to direct.”
The production is completely student-run.
“This is something that they are trying that is sort of new,” Straus said. “It’s a completely student put together show, but we have advisers.”
Straus said the history of the play makes it relevant to today.
“It’s based on what many people believe to be the oldest surviving play which is ‘The Suppliant Women’ by Aeschylus,” Straus said. “They basically took that old play and gave it a modern twist.”
The play is about 50 betrothed women who flee to Italy to escape their impending marriages and their prospective grooms following suit.
“I have a feeling many people are going to come expecting it to be this really light-hearted Meg Ryan type of thing, and that is not what they’re going to get,” Straus said. “There is a lot of great comedy in it — a lot of much needed comedy. There are a lot of really funny moments.”
Brooke Rainey, undecided freshman, said she has never attended a Texas State production.
“The timing has never worked out I guess, but I have wanted to,” Rainey said. “I like going to plays because I was in theater in high school, and I think escaping women sounds intriguing.”
Straus said he did not pick the play, but given the chance he would have chosen “Big Love.”
Jordana Mihajlovski, management junior, said she does not keep up with the Fine Arts events at Texas State, but is intrigued by “Big Love.”
“I am not a big fan of plays in general, and I honestly don’t know when plays are even put on,” Mihajlovski said. “There has to be a good story line — it can’t just be a romantic comedy. That is not what I want in a play.”
Straus said this play is more diverse than one would assume from the title.
“It’s a really wild piece,” Straus said. “A lot of physicality is in it — a lot of extreme physicality that the playwright wrote into it, and some I’ve had to put down because some of it was not able to be staged.”
Straus said this play is different than any other Texas State production.
“It actually deals with some pretty heavy issues and pretty dark moments,” Straus said. “There is certainly love and romance in it but it’s a bit more all-encompassing than that. It’s fun, it’s different and it’s shocking. I’ve never seen anything like this onstage before and that’s why I’m excited about it.”