By Janet Carden, Opinions Editor
Starting the year off strong, the Theatre Department at Ouachita Baptist University performed the first musical, The Theory of Relativity.
The musical begins with college students starting an exam and they begin with the Theory of Relativity–a theory founded by Einstein. It begins as though the questions on the exam are about the Theory of Relativity, with a few other topics briefly mentioned. Shortly into the song, it’s realized that each question details an event that happens then or later in the musical.
Each scene and song gives a new character or characters a backstory. Some characters are falling in love, other characters are passing a newfound crush, some are experiencing the loss of dear ones and others feel the weight of family expectations.
The theme behind this play is to show that each student is fighting a different battle in every classroom. It gives professors and students alike the perspective we may not have had previously. On the surface, everyone knows life happens. Everyone knows that everyone is dealing with something, but how deeply do we understand that concept? How readily do we look past our own troubles which seem too big only to find that the people around us are dealing with troubles just as big?
Some students, in the play and within our college, are facing the great challenge of who to marry, who to plan a life with and questions like is marriage too risky in this economy? Some students are carrying the weight of their family’s expectations–first generation students are trying to pull themselves and their families out of difficulties, financial and otherwise. Some students are trying to figure out whether they go home for break, join a friend or stay at Ouachita for a plethora of reasons: home life is difficult to bear, money is hard to come by or a lack of transportation.
College is the time to find ourselves without parental influence, and it’s a lot harder than expected. This play is the perfect show of what all students have on their plates while still showcasing niche problems that may only face a few students.
Between heavy moments, there were entertaining bits such as the man allergic to cats who wanted to marry his girlfriend who had four cats she adored. There was also a segment about a germaphobe who opened doors in a particular way and was struggling to eat a cake her boyfriend made for her because he made it with his hands. One man, who eventually fell in love, would recite digits of Pi. The comedy here is that he thought romance was too unpredictable, unlike math, which was easy to understand for him. One comical moment is the behind the scenes interaction of two different perspectives: the guy who adores the girl he bumps into and the girl who attempts to establish dominance by not moving.”
What made this whole musical most fascinating were the few cameos of moments in other songs making an appearance in different songs. Everything was recurring throughout the play and helped emphasize the theme of every student facing difficulties while a character dealt with their own difficulties.
Dr. Aipperspach also made a couple of appearances as a teacher and had the crowd laughing with his in-character comment “I would pray about that one,” to one of the students mid-exam.
Overall, The Theory of Relativity was a fantastic musical and a great debut showing the talent of Ouachita’s theatre department.
