Curtain rises on student-led theater troupe at Collins

Wednesday night’s debut of playwright Noah Haidle’s “Mr. Marmalade” at the Collins Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch Coffeehouse was a success, as the exuberant eight-person student cast made audiences gasp and giggle at Haidle’s bleak comedy. Despite working with a shoestring budget and minimal props, independent theater troupe InPulse Productions ensured there were no dull moments.\nInPulse premiered this week with performances of “Mr. Marmalade.” Founded this year by IU students David Sernick, Taylor St. John and Kate Catherall, the group plans to continue performing contemporary plays for nonprofit educational purposes.\n“It’s funny and it’s disturbing, and it says something about the world today,” said sophomore Ryan Gohsman, who plays Mr. Marmalade’s good-natured assistant. “We’ve got everything from talking cacti and sunflowers, to cocaine and double-sided dildos. Something for everybody, if you will.”\nThe edgy play depicts an emotionally neglected 4-year-old, played by Catherall, who retreats into a fantasy world of imaginary friends to escape her dismal reality. Mr. Marmalade, played by St. John, is her imaginary friend: a middle-aged businessman who visits his young sweetheart for tea parties between business trips and booze binges.\n“I was surprised by the quality of the performance,” sophomore David Murto said. “I thought it was going to be some cute little show, but it presented incredibly disturbing thematic elements that kept me interested.”\nThe play explores issues like spousal abuse, sex, drugs and suicide through the eyes of a toddler, and the result is anything but comforting. Co-founder Sernick said the group is about exposing people to contemporary forms of theater that reflect today’s social issues. The group also tries to move people past their preconceptions of theater as Shakespearean stiffs reciting lines in Old English. \n“Modern theater should reflect today’s issues,” Sernick said. “The works of Shakespeare and Chekov are monumental, but are by no means modern. We are trying to present a new way of looking at theater.”\nDespite the best efforts of IU’s student-actors, many find there just isn’t enough of the limelight to go around. Sernick points to the difficulties in getting cast on IU’s main stage as motivation for providing alternative opportunities for student actors and directors to showcase their talents. \nThis is why students such as Gohsman applaud their peers for creating their own artistic avenues.\n“InPulse is a forum for work that theater schools probably wouldn’t touch because it’s either too edgy or too new,” Gohsman said. “Independent student groups are very important because the world needs to see this kind of work.”\nCatherall believes that by performing plays such as “Mr. Marmalade,” InPulse Productions not only has the power to make people laugh, but the power to make them think.\n“We had this idea that we could start a student theater organization that does contemporary, experimental theater aimed at provoking social change,” Catherall said. “You really can help change the world.”