SUNY Oswego’s first live in-person play since the onset of COVID-19 pandemic opened this week in Tyler Hall’s Waterman Theatre.

“Elsewhere,” written by Adam Szymkowicz, follows the story of a young woman, Celia, who is afraid to leave her house. The narrative follows Celia as she attempts to figure out ways to rejoin society while relying on others to pull her out of her loneliness. 

SUNY Oswego professor and director of “Elsewhere,” Steven Mazzoccone, was drawn to the play because of its relevance to feelings of isolation and loneliness during the pandemic. 

“This is a play about a woman who is afraid to go outside and be part of the world,“ Mazzoccone said. “There’s a lot of talk and imagery in the play regarding loneliness, isolation and how that creates habits. One of the things I am curious about now is what habits  have we fallen into because we were all experiencing the pandemic last year … That, as far as story is what really connected with me.”

Categorized as a “dark comedy,”

“Elsewhere,” takes some of the universal feelings of pandemic life and uses them in a humourous and enlightening way throughout the play. Senior creative writing and applied mathematics major, Andrew Buyea, landed the role of Teddy, an unsuspecting delivery driver that fell into Celia’s world of loneliness. Buyea said that the role was both challenging and humorous for him. 

“My character is where a lot of the comedy comes form,” Buyea said. “My character is not smart … I think I went in with a serious take on stuff and had to quickly learn ‘Oh no, my character is not the serious one,’ everyone else’s character is the serious one, I am just there to be good.”

Over the course of two months, the cast and crew of “Elsewhere” spent a great deal of time learning and adapting to their roles in the play. The dark comedy is also an abstract play that holds a number of subtle stage directions, lines and actions. Buyea said that this was a challenge for the cast to work through.  

“For the play as a whole, I would say there are probably a lot of little things people might not pick up on,” Buyea said. “We did table work  for like two weeks, literally just reading the play and talking about it … We learned a lot of cool things. Even the director, after a month into the play realized why we were doing something and would say ‘Oh I didn’t realize that line is as funny as it is until now.’”

The play marks the first in-person production on SUNY Oswego’s Campus since the fall 2019 production of “The Fantasticks.” This means a lot for both the SUNY Oswego community and the surrounding area. Mazzoccone said this change felt fulfilling and exciting. 

“It feels really good,” Mazzoccone said. “It’s exciting for the students to get back on stage and for our tech students to do work that is being featured in a really broad and awesome way. Our job in theatres is to tell stories and we use the format of the theatre space, having a large audience, to tell the story in an effective way to as many people as we can.”

The focus on COVID-19 protocol and safety was not lost on the crew and careful consideration was taken to ensure the safety of both cast members and the audience. A safety protocol officer from the United States Theatre Technicians Department for College Groups assisted the faculty and staff of the SUNY Oswego drama department to determine what safety measures needed to be taken. 

The cast was required to get COVID-19 tested weekly, regardless of vaccination status, and produce a negative test result. Audience members and crew members are required to wear masks for the duration of the production. As per SUNY Oswego guidelines, any attendees must produce proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend campus events. Only actors are permitted to be unmasked during the production. Prior to the week of opening nigh, the entire cast remained masked. Masks were removed for the final few rehearsals so cast members could rehearse in similar conditions to the real performances.  Buyea said this was an adjustment from the beginning of rehearsals when the cast was fully masked. 

“I haven’t seen my co-stars facial expressions and they haven’t seen my facial expressions,” Buyea said. “I feel like a lot of acting is in the face … there were lines where no one laughed before, but then my mask came off and I made faces and people started laughing a lot more.” 

The cast, consisting of Buyea as “Teddy,” Katy Hartzell as “Celia,” Taelor Pittman as “Amanda,” Philip Jones as “Teddy’s Understudy,” Sabrina Taylor as “Celia’s Understudy,” Shy Sims as “Amanda’s Understudy,” Rachel Leotta as “Celia Shadow #1” and Natalie Griffin as “Celia Shadow #2” performed with ease during the show preview on Wednesday with very few hiccups to sort through before opening night. Buyea said he has high hopes for attendance and the rest of the performances. 

“I hope more people come,” Buyea said. “The preview went OK, if that’s the base line I think it can only get better from here.”

“Elsewhere” will have four more performances with 7:30 p.m. curtains on Oct. 22, 23 and 24 and a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Oct. 23. Evening shows will feature a post-show “talkback” with members of the cast and crew lead by the Dramaturgy team. “Elsewhere” is strongly encouraged for audiences 18 years of age or older and has mild trigger warnings for toxic relationships, violence and references to mental health. The play also features scenes with murder, drugs, death and kissing. Tickets for “Elsewhere” are available via tickets.oswego.edu and are free for SUNY Oswego students and $10 for faculty, staff and the general public. The Waterman Theatre is located inside Tyler Hall on the SUNY Oswego campus. 

Chuck Perkins | The  Oswegonian