Gettysburg Students Perform Original Play “Suck It”
By Ella Prieto, Assistant News Editor
(Photo Eric Lippe/The Gettysburgian)
On Thursday, the original play “Suck It” premiered at Gettysburg College’s Kline Theater. The play was sponsored by the Department of Theatre Arts and featured members of the Owl and Nightingale Players acting.
“Suck It” was described on its poster as a play about “…vampires, codependency, and other things that suck.” It was directed by Constance Tarbox and Lance Windish. Other notable behind-the-scenes figures for the play were Technical Director Eric Berninghausen, Lighting Designer Jonathan Stiles and Scenic Charge Artist & Costume Designer Juls Buehrer.
The ten cast members included Hayden Johnston ’25, Max Kuhn ’25, Ryan Melinn ’26, Bryn Morris ’25, Alvan Ngando ’25, Nicole Parisi ’23, Katie Poliero ’25, Victoria Ramsay ’23, Nicholas Ryan ’26 and Kate Sallee ’25.
Prior to the start of the performance, audience members were given the option to take a tour of the theater. The tour began at the back of Brua Hall, where members were led through a haunted house-esque walk to their seats.
The play consisted of the cast alternating between various characters and sets to express the main theme of “Suck It”: that codependency and toxic relationships suck. They brought in various alternative media to express this, including clips from movies, pictures, music and dances. Most popularly highlighted was “Twilight,” where the actors mimicked Bella and Edward’s relationship while the film played behind them.
The 29-scene play also featured monologues from the actors about toxic aspects of life. This included Catholic school, bad boyfriends and the stress of academics. The scenes were also broken up by funny vampire jokes.
After learning about vampires and their tendency to be draining, the cast taught the audience how to effectively kill them. Balloons were released from the ceiling and brought to the audience for them to ‘drive stakes’ through any issues that were plaguing them in life.
“Suck It” will continue to run through this weekend with its final show Sunday at 2 p.m.
