Cast of all-female students perform ‘The Amish Project’
By Adam Spector // Staff Writer
The Empty Space Theatre at High Point University ran its adaptation of “The Amish Project” on Feb. 15-17 and Feb. 19-21, which sold out almost every night. “The Amish Project” is a fictional play that is based on the Nickel Mines schoolhouse shooting in an Amish community.
It was written by Jessica Dickey, who also starred in the original play. The original play had only one actress, while this version of the play had an entirely female cast of seven actresses despite having male characters. The play was directed by HPU’s Doug Brown, who also directed plays such as “Medea,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Steel Magnolias,” “The Dining Room,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Crimes of the Heart.”
Though inspired by a true story, “The Amish Project” is an exploration of a true incident that took place on Oct. 2, 2006 in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The surprisingly true part of the story was about how this Amish community eventually forgave the deceased shooter and his family. Other than that, there is not very much else to the play’s story because aside from this very simple premise, the entire play is very abstract.
The play switches perspectives amongst its different characters. Emma Russell plays Velda, Juliet Jacob plays Carol, Ceili Lang plays Anna, Shannon Howard portrays Sherry, and Demetria Hale plays a character that just happens to be named America. The two male characters, Bill and Eddie, are portrayed by Rose Bliesner and Christine Watt, respectively.
Most of the actresses in this play did a good job, especially when considering how much this play relies on emotion to carry on much of the story.
“The Amish Project” is very artsy and relies heavily on style. For example, the actors use no props and the set has a very minimalist design. Although it maybe could have used a prop or two, the wood set certainly does fit the Amish setting quite well. The part that truly stood out was the lighting design and effects.
Liz Stewart did a phenomenal job of making what could have been overly simplistic very interesting to look at, giving it almost a hypnotic feeling. Even though it was most likely an artistic decision, every character was dressed in Amish attire—even the non-Amish characters—which made the play so much more confusing than it needed to be.
In all honesty, I didn’t dislike “The Amish Project,” but I also didn’t love it. I found it abstract and difficult to follow, and I do strongly believe that a play should resemble some kind of continuing story. The scenic and lighting designers did a commendable job of making this play look nice, most of the actresses did a good job and there was clearly effort put into it, but perhaps this show just isn’t for everyone.