by Karon Reynolds
Plays can be very diverse in form and The Meredith College Theatre program presented an interesting set of plays known as the Radio Play Series at KCACTF. These plays are simply audio versions of traditional, standard drama performances. In addition to the vocal artists, the technical director, sound effects manager and stage director were significant to the successful production. The particular play that will be discussed is titled Our Last Night and was written by Carolina Gao.
Our Last Night is approximately 16 minutes and was very interesting from start to finish. Events from eight years ago were narrated by Maya, who had planned a girl’s trip that didn’t go exactly as planned. The main characters are four girls from the U.S., Maya, Adeline, Libby, and Maisey who travel abroad after college graduation. The setting of the play is in Italy and the girls were spending their last night in a bar. The sound effects added to the reality of the presentation: glasses clinking, background conversations, doors opening and closing. It all starts as Maya woke up on the bathroom floor of the same bar and was somewhat disoriented. She heads out of the bathroom and sees Libby and Maisey, but doesn’t see Adeline and is a little worried. Libby and Maisey were drunk and had no idea where Adeline was. Maya was shocked to learn that Adeline had left after a fight with Maya (a fight that she doesn’t remember since she was drunk at the time). The girls then proceeded to look for their dear friend.
The girls luckily found Adeline at a party that had a secret entrance from a bathroom stall. She was also drunk and when they all met up an unfortunate argument started again. Maya starts to bring up an argument about how her friends were acting. Adeline basically ends the argument by stating that Maya was scared of her friends leaving her. Aside from that, Libby did mention that Maya was also controlling. The overall takeaway from the play, was that the friends were uncertain about their future and Maya voiced concern that their friendships might change. However, after a while apologies were told and the girls made up after that. Maya said it best when she stated, “some friendships are special enough to last.”
I enjoyed this play very much. The storyline was very good and realistic. Caroline Gao did a great job as the playwright. The story can even relate to college students. Students are in dorms with their friends, have classes with them, and even do fun activities. Once graduation happens, the new alumni are going their separate ways and living their lives. Therefore the play itself is very relatable to students. All of the actors in the play did their part well. The narration of Maya in between the scenes helped with the flow of this radio play and the sound effects were precise.
Radio plays may be a little different from traditional plays, but once well directed, they can be a great piece of work like Our Last Night.
