On Thursday, I had the privilege of watching “On the Verge” at Schwartz Theater. I had never heard about this play before and even while I sat waiting for it to begin, I only expected some humor and time traveling to happen. It turned out to be a play that follows the adventures of three women expolorers through their journey in “Terra Incognita” which ends up really being a their journey as they travel forward in time.

I took a lot from the play, including that it is okay to be in that “Terra Incognita” –or in that “unknown.” We do not always have to know where we are heading, what we will do next, where we will be tomorrow, or what our future will look like. Like the ladies in the play, we should be ready expect the unexpected and be open to whatever comes our way. While doing so, we cannot be holding on to the past because with time, we all change. In the play Fanny held on to her husband, writing to him daily, and that prevented her from fully enjoying the present. Another take away is that we do not always have to keep on going and going and going. If we find a place where we are happy in, why would you leave that? 2 of the 3 characters chose to stay in the 50s while the 3rd continued in time. Often, I feel like we do not like to pause and embrace the moment because we feel rushed to continue and find more. On the verge showed me otherwise. 🙂

Thursday night I attended a play at the Schwartz performing arts center called On the Verge. I was excited to see this play because it was billed as a comedic play about 3 Victorian women who time traveled! It sounded like it would be very funny, and I was not disappointed. Though, when I entered the theater I was surprised to see how close we’d be sitting to the stage, but this turned out to be a good thing as it made the play seem more realistic.

For this performance, they did a really good job with the set, sound, and lighting. Much of the performance appeared very real. I seemed to be simply accompanying them on their journey, and could imagine the characters and I were in the actual setting (which was basically all over the place). The actors were also very good! most of them were students here at Cornell which I thought was pretty cool, and there was one older lady who joined the cast as well.

My favorite character was probably Fanny. I found her actions to be the funniest, and every time it was her turn to speak I found myself paying more attention. In my opinion, the best part of this play was when the Yeti made an appearance! But to be honest, the whole play was very comical. I don’t think I could have put together something as random as that, as well as funny. With this play, you never knew what was coming next, it was surprise after surprise!

I thought the play was very good, it certainly made me laugh a lot! I hope the other students who attended enjoyed it as much as I did!

Initially when On the Verge began, I could not focus. The irony of students of color on the verge of a great college movement through social media, and watching a predominantly white, Eurocentric cast focused on making the world their oyster, put me in a difficult head space. In addition, I had no idea where the play was going. The notifications on my phone from student activists, micro-agressions in the skit, and my placement between it all, was slowly encouraging me to walk out.

Though it took a while, I later found myself at an ease. By this point it was the second half of the play, and I realized that they were time traveling – how cool was that! These three different women exploring the world’s complexities and inventions, during different time periods, with ancient minds could not have been more weird.

Anyway, the last few acts of the play were what caught my attention. Two of the main characters found a period of time that had all that they could ever imagine and want. The third main character wanted to continue exploring, though she had an appreciation for the 1950s as well. She wanted to finish discovering all that was in the future for her, though her friends believed that “The Future is Now!” To the audience members, at the end of 2015, this was funny and we all knew that they should continue the journey together. The third character left her friends, though it was not easy, and I’m guessing everyone lived out the lives they desired.

This play made me question my antics and ways. This play made me think deeply about my perceptions of my career, the world’s development, and the influence that loved ones in my life have on me. I walked away thinking the following:

May I never stop going after what the world has to offer

May I never be satisfied with what it offers

May I never be afraid to know that there is something more

May I never let leaving others scare me from encountering all that my heart desires

Because I never know what may be On the Verge…

On Thursday night, I had the opportunity to attend the Department of Performing and Media Arts’ performance of On the Verge at the Schwartz Center. The play chronicled three Victorian women who travel through time and their encounters with different characters. I was particularly impressed with the play’s humor, deep messages, and the actors’ eloquence.

I found the play to be not only informative as it portrayed the three women throughout different historical periods, but also very amusing. The actors effectively made the audience laugh while simultaneously conveying deep messages. I enjoyed On the Verge’s references to significant events in the U.S. such as the invention of the first Kodak camera, World War II, and presidential campaigns. I was particularly amused when the three women found an ‘I like Ike’ button and searched everywhere for Ike (Ike was a nickname for Dwight Eisenhower during his presidential campaign). The mannerisms and voice inflections were also amusing.

Moreover, I was awed by the actors’ use of vocabulary. Their eloquence made me realize the unlimited potential of the English language. The actors used vocabulary I had seen only read in books. Also, I enjoyed the play’s nuances, as the language of the play propelled the women along the journey. The transition of language from a Victorian vernacular to an American slang as the women travelled through time was well-done. It almost seemed that the playwright was criticizing the deterioration of the English language, as the women became less eloquent as the play went on.

As characters and objects dropped haphazardly into the women’s presence, I thought that the play can be interpreted as defiance against patriarchy. The women not only explore unknown territory, but they also successfully evade dangers such as the yeti. The play also concludes with one of the women wearing jeans under her Victorian dress.

Overall, I had a wonderful time attending the play. It was evident that the students had put a lot of time and dedication into the great performance. This performance has made me even more excited about taking a class in the Department of Performing and Media Arts in the future!

This past Friday, Rose Scholars attended the Department of Performing and Media Arts’ rendition of On the Verge. The play follows the story of three adventurous and daring women through their journeys traveling to Terra Incognita.

The aspect of the play that stood out to me to the most was the insanely complicated vocabulary! For example, one of the main characters, Mary, said this:

“The bane of my many travels in the tropics is a bland, mucilagenous paste called manioc, made from the forlorn and despicable cassava, a tuber of dubious provenance. A vile concoction, manioc tastes, in the best of recipes, like the bottom of a budgie’s cage – and is more suited for masonry than human consumption. Manioc is the quintessential native chop, occuring circumglobularly in the tropics. For those with a taste for prussic acid, manioc may be just your cup of tea.”

This extraordinary use of words captivated my attention and left me in awe. What was equally as impressive as the script, was the execution of these lines; if the actresses messed up lines, I had no idea. Beyond the plot of the play, this piece made me remember how beautiful the English language is!

I can only imagine the amount of work that went into the memorization and execution of the script, and I would like to applaud the PMA students for putting on such a complicated piece. Bravo!