'Extremities' sparks controversy

Play depicts scenes of rape, violence and revenge

By EISA AL NASHMI

Within inches of being raped, Marjorie fights back and manages to escape.
Frustrated and afraid of living the life of a rape victim, she wants nothing but revenge.

A sold out audience saw how Marjorie retaliated as “Extremities,” a play by the theater arts department, opened on Friday. The controversial play will continue its run Tuesday through Saturday.

In “Extremities,” Marjorie captures and brutally tortures her intruder, Raul, but doesn’t know what to do with him next. Her roommates return home and struggle to determine who is guilty of the crime: Marjorie or her charming would-be-rapist who was physically hurt by her beating.

With his great sense of manipulation, Raul manages to convince Marjorie the legal system is on his side. He tells her that he never raped her, and that the harsh physical abuse he got from her could easily overcome the rape attempt.

“She doesn’t know her legal rights, and that is a well-known condition in America today,” said Thomas-Whit Ellis, director of the play. “She let him influence her sense of reasoning because he was an ex-criminal and is experienced with the law.”

Ellis said he wanted to create a play out of reality that would reach out and capture people’s emotions.

“Rape is a major issue we need to be aware of,” he said. “I wanted to do something that would resonate with the audience for sometime after the experience.”

And that he did.

Engineering student Bryan Potter said the show’s actors did a great job portraying something most people have never experienced.

“The actual violence portrayed by Marjorie and the fact that someone almost raped her made me question on who’s the bad person in the situation. I felt bad for the rapist for awhile, then I thought—he’s a rapist.”

Travis Griffith said it was an interesting way to approach a difficult subject.

“The situation was assertive, but it was the only way to present the thing. The idea of a person being raped on stage…” Griffith said.

Kalisha Scott, who portrayed Marjorie in the play, said she was “honored” to play the part of a strong woman who is not going to sit down and let things happen to her.

Scott said that so many women are being raped and are keeping quiet about it, so she said it feels good to tell a story that compels them to speak up.

“Fighting back when you can fight back is very important,” Scott said. “But I hope the audience understands that they don’t have to go over the limit like Marjorie did.”

Scott said it was extremely difficult playing Marjorie because of the amount of anger and hate her character carries after being raped. She physically hits and tortures her captive in an inhuman way, and would never stop cursing throughout the play.

“I was stressing between the character and my personal life,” Scott said. “I am not a violent person, but I don’t how will I feel if the same thing happens to me.”

Brandon Lindner, a theatre arts student who portrayed the rapist in the play, said it was a great challenge to play that part, but “It was one of those roles that when it’s over with, I’ll be glad I won’t walk in his shoes any more.”

Married with three children, Raul was raised in a Catholic church. His religious background circles his personality as he calls the Mother of God for help while being tortured, but he never admits the wrongdoings of rape.

He has been in jail before, so he makes Marjorie believe he knows the law more than she does. He convinces her that the legal system is on his side.

“Raul is very intelligent, manipulative, but just a little crazy,” Lindner said.

The actual rape scene and the brutal physical violence are the spark behind the play’s controversy, and both actors had a tough time dealing with it.

“It is a difficult role to do because you never want to think of rape,” Lindner said.

Lindner said there had to be trust between both actors for the play to look as real as possible.

“She trusted me in the rape scene and I trusted her when she beat me up,” he said.

Scott said the best way to deal with the stress of her role is to remember it is not real.

“You have to suck it up,” she said. “It is theatre and you are just playing a character.”

Extremities will continue playing all this week—from Tuesday to Saturday—at the Arena Theatre in the Speech Arts building. Tickets are $7 for students, $12 for faculty, staff and alumni and $14 for the general public.

Ellis said a panel discussion about the misconceptions, stereotypes and the myths of rape will be held on Thursday after the play.

People from the women’s resource center, the department of women’s studies and off-campus agencies that deal with rape will be part of this discussion.

“It’s a matter of awareness where we try to extend the opportunities for other resources to say what they have on that issue,” Ellis said. “I’m the artist who presented this play, and they are the social scientists who have the most information about rape.”