When it was written back in the early '90s, Naomi Wallace had a hard time finding a company that would produce her racially-charged play, "The War Boys." Times have changed. Now, the Ball State Department of Theatre is set to perform it beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. in the Cave Theatre.
Ball State junior Elliott Lemberg is directing the play.
"At first, Naomi Wallace couldn't get her plays performed in the U.S.; they were a little too intense, so she had to go to England to get them performed," Lemberg said.
Lemberg said "The War Boys" is the story of a group of sadistic, vigilante Texans who are paid by the U.S. government to capture illegal Mexican immigrants as they try to cross the border.
Ball State freshman Dan Cesar plays David, the group's ringleader.
He said this play was difficult to rehearse because of the intensely symbolic nature of its characters.
"The first two weeks of rehearsal, we basically just sat down with the script and worked with it," Cesar said.
Cesar said he did research for his role, watching "Goodfellas" to see how different actors dealt with anger and guilt.
Cesar wasn't the only "War Boys" actor to struggle with his character. Ball State sophomore Dustin Spence plays Greg, a half-Mexican vigilante struggling with his identity.
"In rehearsals, we'd spend five minutes acting, then about 20 talking about what we'd just done," Spence said.
Spence had the added difficulty of translating his character's Spanish language lines.
"I went to an online Spanish-English dictionary to find out what my character was saying. Also, I read a lot of articles about border relations and illegal immigration," he said.
Ball State senior, Wednesday Cunnington is the Assistant Director and Stage Manager for "The War Boys."
"You usually don't wear makeup here unless you're a girl. Cave productions are usually geared more towards technique," Cunnington said.
With a boxy-black interior and a house occupancy of 42 seats, the Cave is Ball State's smallest and starkest theatrical venue. Props and makeup are kept at an absolute minimum. Instead, the emphasis is placed squarely on the performance of the actors.
What really sets Cave productions apart from other Ball State plays is the fact that they are entirely student-run.
Ball State senior Matt Domasica plays George. He said he enjoys acting in Cave plays because of the freedom the actors get from a student-run stage.
"The line between actor and director is much more subtle than in a Main Stage production. You get more of a chance to explain what you want," Domasica said.
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