It's just like tequila," says Becca Flemming, a Communication senior and director of the new WAVE production Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames. "In color and in strength, [and] in its sneakiness and absurd fun. This show can make you pass out and kill you. It's totally tequila."
Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames is a dark comedy full of hidden razor blades. Imagine a comedy set in a world that seems to be our own, yet is falling apart as chaos and the apocalypse draws near. Imagine a family torn apart by violence, drinking, drugs, and religion.
"It's about a family enduring an apocalypse," says Tim McGovern, a Communication sophomore who plays the father. "[Shoppers] is so relevant today. There are underground 'fires' in our midst that are slowly disintegrating our world. Through the characters we see how acclimated and used to the destruction they, and we, are."
Through Shoppers' sarcasm and smoky past, cast mates remain hopeful about the ending and what it entails for the real world.
"[Shoppers] is about broken families finding forgiveness," says Piper Sagan, a Communication junior who plays the living TV. "It really puts our lives in perspective. Every week I get some new revelation about the symbolism."
Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames is a dark comedy that, while inspiring to some, will not reach every audience member in the same way. The cast mates agree that "it's definitely not for everyone."
"This play is for a contemporary, young and thinking, American audience," Fleming says. "Anyone who doesn't want the world to burn, come see us. If we've done our job right, it should incite people to action. Be prepared to recognize something and leave incredibly uncomfortable."
Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into the Flames goes up at McCormick Auditorium Nov. 15-17, with show times at 8 p.m. on Thursday and 8 and 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
-Lindsey Kundel
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