Generation X-ers say aloha to finding love and finding themselves

"Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls" is the witty, yet sappy progeny of the upcoming, BRAVA theater-based playwright, Naomi Iizuka. Under professional guidance, the University's Program in Theater and Dance has selected the play for the fall 2001-2002 show.

Iizuka's postmodern play focuses on the emotionally loaded interpersonal relationships generated between different members of the Generation X cast.

She highlights the sensitivity of the ebbs and flows of interpersonal space, self-identity and love in contemporary society. However, in doing so, she does not compromise a sense of humor, which serves a pivotal role in her story.

Because of its approach to finding love within an individualized social niche, assistant director Evren Odcikin '02, believes the play will speak to the Princeton audience.

In addition to being awarded the University's Hodder Fellowship in 1998, Iizuka received her B.A. from Yale University and her M.F.A. from the University of California at San Diego.

Another one of Iizuka's plays, "36 Views," starring Alec Baldwin will be showcased later this year in New York City.

The ensemble of "Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls" consists of 11 Generation X-ers. Some of the cast members are trained thespians, and some are taking the stage for the first time.

However different their past experiences, the spontaneous magnetism of their respective characters and their mastery of brisk speech ensure that the overall performance is hysterical.

"Eleven people is a lot to manage so the play naturally has this kind of frenetic, chaotic energy, which makes it all the more funny and zany," Hollis Witherspoon '04 said.

"Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls" is doused with professional expertise, which carefully captivates Iizuka's surreal, funny and kinetic prose.

The director is Roger Babb, who is also the artistic director of Otrabanda Company, which is an experimental theater company in New York.

Uniting his creativity with fellow New Yorkers Christine Jones (set director) and Michael Reese (light design) and Philadelphia-based James Sugg (master of sound design), Babb courageously tackles the challenging role of capturing Iizuka's complicated essence in a comedic light.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

In an interview last week, he emphasized his focus on exposing the play's comedic genre.

"It is funny as hell," he said. "The sense of humor is crude and sappy. People will have a good time."

The show contains two acts, each of which exudes a completely different tone and feel. In the first act, the Generation X-ers feel burdened by the confines of New York City, unable to find love and a lucid self-perception.

"The play really works on the idea that you have to live in very small spaces in N.Y.C., so the set elements and the props are all small and toy-like," Odcikin said.

Surprisingly, the set design demonstrates these feelings of physical and social isolation in a very radical manner.

The set design in the first act is very minimalist. The stage floor is black, on which large self-contained, monochromatic bubbles are painted. In addition to lighting, these are the two main elements of the set design.

After the first act, the characters move out of New York City and into three different regional areas: Alaska, Hawaii and an inner-Borneo jungle. While finding love, they find themselves.

In conjunction with this emotional transition, the audience is thrust abruptly into a different set of visual stimuli — a stark transition from dark to open light.

Adorned with some props, but still retaining a minimalist feel, the backdrop and floor of the stage is dominantly white. In using such a set design, Jones has appropriately encapsulated the simplicity of the script.

Working with the professional team, Odcikin remains optimistic about his ability to bring Iizuka's fast-paced surreal vision to life on stage.

"We are representing the really complicated set elements like apartments, pet shop, subway station with only a few chairs and a terrarium," he said.

In addition to a very visually invigorating set design, sound is the main other element of sensory stimulation.

With the aid of Sugg, the actors create the sound environment used in the play — literally. Despite a brief score of musical cues, the majority of the complicated and inorganic sounds are generated by actors.

These sounds, which include surf, wind, subway, airport noises and Muzak, all contribute to the play's sense of humor.

The cast members and professional team emphasize that "Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls" is not typical to the Princeton stage.

"It really has been a great show to work on in general," Odcikin said, "because unlike most shows that tend to go up at Princeton, the characters and the events are not very difficult to grasp."