While the other acts explored topics of life, “No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre depicted the possibilities of what might come after.
“No Exit” fulfills directors’ long-held anticipation
While the other acts explored topics of life, “No Exit” by Jean-Paul Sartre depicted the possibilities of what might come after.
Co-directors and seniors Dianne Caravela and Lillian Pettigrew have been anticipating this act for the past nine months. “It is our baby, and we are giving birth to it,” Pettigrew said.
“[The plot] it is three people stuck in a room together and they realize that this is hell to spend eternity with each other,” Pettigrew said. “They’ve all done horrible things in their lifetimes to end up there and there are some really fun cycles of lust and violence.”
“It has a lot of power dynamics, whether that be violence or sex or class, [and characters] scrabble to have anything to hold over the other people that they possibly can,” Caravela said.
Pettigrew explained that one of her favorite parts happened early in the process.
“One part that stands out for me was in auditions, watching other people bring these words to life for the first time and the excitement of ‘oh my god this might actually work,’” she said.
As for Caravela, the joy of the directing process was a pleasant surprise.
“I thought it was going to be really hard to direct people since I have no experience,” Caravela said, “but bossing people around has been way more fun than I thought [in addition to] not having to boss people around because [of] our cast.”
“They cared about the show as much as we did which was so cool,” she added.