Texan Mosaic

by MATT MOLINAR/Opinion Editor

“The Invisible Man” is full of suspense, drama and action. But this is a play you have to listen to.

The theatre program’s performance of “The Invisible Man” was done as a radio play, which means every sound made during the performances on Feb. 25-27 was live. The cast of the play had many different objects on the Helen DeVitt Jones Theatre stage in the Christine Devitt Fine Arts Center on the Levelland campus of South Plains College that would make a different sound for whatever action was made.

While the play was going on, audience members were encouraged to close their eyes and relax. This helped better understand the play, as you could associate your own visuals with the different sounds you hear. This is what made the play the most interesting.

The cast only included eight people, though the play called for 23 characters. Because costume changes are not necessary for a radio play, cast members were able to act as multiple characters.

Cast members included: Mercedes Cruz, who played the narrator, Peter, the security guard, Bunting, and Drinker #1; Kalyn Villalon, who played the mayor, the academic dean, and Constable Jeffers; Avery Thompson, who played the Bartender and Rebecca; Kasidee Young, who played the village woman, Cuss, and the Mother of Rebecca; Zach Judah, who played the inspector, Harding, and the father of Rebecca; Jory Murillo, who played Kemp, Teddy, and Marvel; Nikki Rodriguez, who played Taylor, Mrs. Hall, and Flannery; and Marcello Rodriguez, who played Griffin.

The plot of the play was also very interesting. It takes place in a town in England called Iping. Griffin, also known as the invisible man, is a brilliant student about to become a doctor. Griffin begins talking about his ability to make things invisible to his professor, though he hasn’t discovered a solution to return things back to their normal, colorful state.

He soon discovers that his professor has been stealing his research. In order to protect his position as professor, he manages to find a way to get Griffin kicked out of school.

Griffin arrives at an inn, taking shelter from a snowstorm. Villagers begin to suspect that he is up to no good after noticing he spends all of his time in his room. They accuse him of robbery.

Little do they know that he was trying to find a solution for his problem. Griffin takes off his clothes and proves to the villagers that he, indeed, has a problem. While fleeing the town, the invisible man leaves his research notes at the inn and is in desperate need of recovering them if he ever wishes to return to his normal, opaque self.

To get the research notes back, Griffin enlists the services of a homeless man named Marvel. They go back to Iping and fight off more of the villagers.

After the Iping drama, Griffin heads to a new town to find shelter. He meets up with an old buddy. Griffin begins to tell his friend, Kemp, about his previous struggles and how all he ever wanted to do was experiment with invisibility. Now he has all of this legal trouble on his shoulders.

Soon after, Kemp alerts the authorities of the invisible man’s location. When they come to arrest him, his invisibility makes the task difficult, and he ends up escaping. Kemp helps the police to arrest Griffin. In the end, things don’t end very well for the poor invisible man.

Overall, I think the play was beautifully executed. Even though it was simplistic as far as set design and technology were concerned, the performance of “The Invisible Man” turned out to be one of the most interesting and beautiful performances I have seen at SPC.