Puppets, Sept. 11 come together in 'Events'

What do the Super Bowl and the St. Louis premiere of "Recent Tragic Events," visiting professor Jason Cannon's most recent production at UM-St. Louis, have in common?

They both start off with a coin toss that supposedly affects the outcome of the performance, as the stage manager, Eleanor Pini, explained.

In a play about the distinction between whether events happen because of free will or they are predetermined, each time a tone sounded, the audience is told that certain events may or may not happen or occur differently based on the flip of a coin.

On Thursday night's debut in the Lee Theater, it was tails.

"Recent Tragic Events," despite its name, is actually humorous at times, like a sitcom. The story follows Andrew (Joey Walsh, who also starred in the fall production "Noises Off,") and Waverly (Brieanna Brewer) on a blind date on Sept. 12, 2001, the day after "the thing," as the attacks now known as 9/11 are called in the play. The two share that awkward feeling we all get on blind dates, which makes the chemistry between them seem realistic. They even read the same books. Add on the awkwardness of the 9/11 tragedy fresh in their minds and the fact that Waverly has not heard from her twin sister who may have been in New York City when "the thing" happened.

Walsh's portrayal of Andrew kept the play suspenseful throughout with his revelations, while Brewer kept Waverly on target, despite breaking character at one moment.

Balancing out the seriousness of Waverly is Ron (Framooze Akhi), the Kramer-like neighbor in this Seinfeldish comedy, who is described as "Hailey Comet, if Hailey's Comet came by 35 times a day" and his catatonic, half-dressed "friend" Nancy (Lauren Mergenthaler).

Akhi's Ron steals the show and ends up being more likeable than annoying, showing he can hold his own in a philosophical debate, yet provide the comic relief with his ability to hear the tones while no one else can.

However, he is outdone by Joyce Carol Oates (voiced by Lauren Mergenthaler) who is played by a sock puppet, so that audiences know the difference between the character and the real author with the same name.

The puppet is actually a commentary, standing for the philosophical question of whether we really have free will or are we all just puppets playing predetermined fates in some sort of play or movie. When Ron stands up against Oates for his belief that free will does not exist, Oates calls Ron a puppet.

Mergenthaler's performance of Oates, which is one of the most difficult to pull off, comes off naturally enough but whether audience members accepted a hand puppet for the real author was shaky.

The technical production went smoothly, except when the tones sounded, leaving me feel less worried about what certain parts of the play could have taken different turns, and more likely the chances were to interrupt the flow of the production.

About 40 people showed up to opening night, which is a shame since the production is well worth seeing. "Recent Tragic Events" played March 6 through March 8 and will have three more performances this weekend March 13 through 15. Tickets are $5 for students and staff and $8 for the general public, except for Thursdays when student tickets are $3.