The Drama Club presents August Strindberg's 1907 surreal one-act play, The Ghost Sonata. It is one of his five Chamber Plays first produced in Stockholm from 1907-09. They are so named due to their lyrical qualities and similarities to chamber music.
The Ghost Sonata is set in 1907 North Dakota and depicts the good and evil in humanity. We learn that a student, Arkenholtz (Eric Archilla) has just saved a child from being crushed in front of a crumbling building. He represents the good in humanity and possesses psychic powers.
Old Hummel (John Flores) is the embodiment of evil, a vampire-like creature who uses others for his own benefit. The overarching theme of the play is alienation, epitomized in the ghost supper as the ghost-like characters eat in silence. They are bound by their evil deeds. All the characters except the student wear eerie-looking masks.
Jeffrey Schmidt has directed the play with fluid staging and a keen eye for the macabre. Excellent performances are turned in by the entire cast which also includes Maryam Baig, Brad McEntire, David Meglino and Christina
Neubrand and an especially outstanding performance by Cindy Beall as The Janitress
and the Mummy.
