“A Cold Day in Hell”
February 2, 2022
A MEETING IN PROGRESS. This council of hellraisers sits enthralled in a conversation about disobeying the status quo.
Directed by seniors Per Johnson and Olivia Szaj, “A Cold Day In Hell” begins–unsurprisingly–in hell. However, the simple staging only included a conference table with a few chairs around it. Seated around the table are “hellraisers”, those in the afterlife tasked with creating hell on earth. These employees of the Devil (senior Ellie Murphy) include Pureseaus (sophomore Sam Gilats), Jane Exelly III (sophomore Violet Benson), Tony Granding (sophomore Oliver Zhu), the world’s first lawyer (senior Naci Konar-Steenberg), Calvin (senior Sal Burkhardt), Maggie Anne (senior Olivia Fenlon), and Death (Zhu). The staffers are dismayed when they find out that newcomer and telemarketer Steve (junior Leo Sampsell-Jones) has been appointed as the chancellor of the committee over one of their own.
When assigned his first task of making his brother’s life miserable, Steve takes a stand against the Devil and the cruel work he is expected to do. Those around him are quite corrupt, ranging from disgraced politicians to a murderous 1950s housewife, so Steve’s attempted kindness is poorly recieved. Though the world’s first lawyer chooses to support Steve. The duo attempts to carry out kind acts for the people still on earth, and regain a chance at life after winning in a challenge against the outraged Devil.
In Johnson and Szaj’s directorial debut, they clearly and hilariously conveyed a poignant message to the audience. Not only did the audience enjoy laughs throughout the show, but audience members were left with the message that even if those around oneself have bad tendencies, one can still choose to do good.