Live Event Review

Live Event Review: “Duck Variations” & “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You”


Sister Mary Ignatius flipped through the note cards filled with questions from the audience about God.
“If there is a God, why does he allow evil in the world?”
With a quick glance up, Sister flipped to the next card.

The highlight of “Duck Variations” and “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All To You” plays was the excellent acting of one character: Sister Mary Ignatius. K senior Mouse Courtois had the audience under a spell for the duration of her time on stage: the entirety of the second play.

The productions were put on in the Dungeon Theatre of the Fine Arts Building and ran three nights. The play duo kicked off the Senior Performance Series, a two week long event that featured plays directed by K students, written by K students and acted by K students.

Choosing these two plays to start the Series was an excellent decision.

“Duck Variations,” a play by David Mamet, was directed by Terry Cangelosi K’09. The play has much the same premise as “Waiting for Godot:” two old men sit, talking and reflecting on life. Having a mere two characters lends to a boring play, but they kept up a steady, not too slow pace. They discussed friendships, and how “it’s good to listen to a friend,” while in the process cutting each other off. Even though the play delved in depressing topics such as loneliness, the constant inclusion of ducks in the conversation kept things semi-upbeat. It’s hard not to laugh at the idea of ducks “with lung cancer and runny noses, trying to bum a smoke.”

Since the plays were both one act, the settings were simple. For “Ducks,” the setting consisted of a lamp post, bench and some pieces of trash. “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All To You” had a rocking chair, altar and easel. In many productions, setting adds to the over all atmosphere of the scene, but in both plays the lack of setting illuminated the acting.

“Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You” was a spot on hit. The playwright, Christopher Durang, exposes the comedic nature of blind faith. K senior Sarah Ludwinski directed the play and did a phenomenal job. From the beginning, Sister Mary had everyone laughing as she explained religion and read off her list of people going to hell, “. . .Brooke Shields, David Bowie, Mick Jagger. . .” The increasingly obvious insanity of Sister Mary produced more and more funny lines: “You do that thing that makes Jesus puke? . . . Jesus is going to throw up.” The play was mostly humorous in nature, but when it reached a dramatic point, the acting held up. Most of the dramatic weight fell onto one actress, Katie Stover. Stover took the reins and cut the otherwise continuous laughter into pieces.

For student directed plays, they were impressive. “Duck Variations” certainly had its entertaining moments, but “Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All” carried the night.