The word “harvest” evokes images of farms with rows of corn, or rustic barns filled with oinking pigs and mooing cows. Perhaps even Thanksgiving, with earthy color tones and slices of pumpkin pie.
These were certainly ideas that came to mind when my Theatre Appreciation professor told his students we were to see “Harvest,” UF School of Theatre and Dance’s current production. As my roommate Bri and I walked to the Black Box Theatre in the Nadine McGuire Theatre + Dance Pavilion, we assumed we would be watching a play about farming.
Imagine our surprise when we entered the theater and saw a high-tech, dystopian, grungy and futuristic set.
The action of the show revolves around the Prakash family, living in a dystopian post-colonial India. In this world, bodies are a commodity that are bought and sold to the highest bidder. In exchange for lucrative amounts of money, various citizens sell their organs to Westerners in America through the corporation Interplanta. When Om Prakash decides to sign up for the Interplanta program, tensions rise within the Prakash family.
I was entranced by the set design. The various posters around the top of the Black Box were immersive; our eyes were constantly drawn to the Interplanta imagery strewn across the space, not to mention the screen at the back of the stage that played different ads throughout the show.
Before the show started, some of the actors walked around the stage, interacting with each other and doing activities like buying and selling spices and speaking with Interplanta agents. This helped form the show’s atmosphere.
The stage was set up as a thrust, meaning that the audience surrounds the stage on all sides but one. I felt immersed in the crowded Prakash household.
While the design was not what Bri and I were expecting, we were blown away by how the director, Jashodhara Sen, decided to execute the concept. The posters and ads surrounding the stage added to the stifling feel of corporatism that the playwright, Manjula Padmanabhan, was trying to convey. The starkness of the Prakash apartment matched the tension felt by the family throughout the show and the barrenness and desperation of the society as a whole.
In terms of the acting, all the performers did very well. I particularly liked the performances of Angelina Velasco as Jaya and Madeline Franklin as Ginni.
Velasco truly embodies the role of Jaya as a concerned wife, and later a woman determined to undermine the system that surrounds her. At the beginning of the play, she tries her best to stand up to Ma and Om, who seem to make their own decisions without consulting her. Throughout the play, Velasco’s acting shifts to show the development of Jaya into a woman determined to stand up against the white receiver, Virgil, who just wishes to use her to make babies.
In contrast, Franklin’s acting really surprised me in a great way. She played the perfect white woman hell bent on being condescending to those below her. Throughout her conversations with Om, the audience can tell she doesn’t truly value the quality of life of the Prakash family, but instead values the health of the organs she will soon receive. Her cold attitude towards the Prakash family truly highlights the message of the play.
Overall, I would definitely recommend going to view this play if you have the chance. While it may seem a little outlandish, it provides a scintillating critique of capitalism and the effect it has on class issues and human rights.
The play runs from Sept. 19 to Sept. 28. Tickets can be bought at the University Box Office located at the O’Connell Center.
Isabella Cabrera is an 18-year-old UF political science freshman
Isabella Cabrera is an 18-year-old UF political science freshman.
