BY QUITTERIE GOUNOT

In print | Published April 22, 2010

You probably walk through this place every day, yet you might not even know its name: Cosby Courtyard, that small, grassy courtyard between Parrish and Kohlberg. This coming weekend, this inconspicuous setting will become the stage for a student performance of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
Peering into the intimacy of a living room, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” centers around two couples with complex histories. George (Dustin Trabert ’10) is a college professor and Martha (Lori Barkin ’12) is his wife, the daughter of the college president. Over the course of 23 years of marriage they have had their share of disappointments.
Enter Nick (Brian Huser ’13), a new hotshot professor, and Honey (Jessie Cannizzaro ’12), his wife. At first glance, Nick and Honey seem like a perfectly happy young couple. However, when they accept George and Martha’s late night invitation to their home after a social function, they do not know what they are getting themselves into.
“The big thing is the way [Nick and Honey] are drawn into the web of our lives,” Trabert, as George, said.
The play has been challenging for its four-actor cast, who have remarked on the physical effects of their difficult roles. “My voice has gotten deeper because of this play,” Barkin said. Huser noted that “the way [he] walks has changed.”
Part of the challenge has been playing characters in a character-driven, four-person play who are so radically different from the actors. As George, Trabert must portray a 46-year-old who looks 50 and whose life is falling apart. He and Barkin (Martha) must portray middle-aged people with years of accumulated frustration. Cannizzaro, as Honey, is a mousy character who strives to put up the front of a good housewife, while she struggles with her husband’s neglect and her own inner turmoil.
As for Nick, Huser must “play a smug guy who is terrible to his wife and does terrible things,” according to director James Robinson ’10.
Although it may seem grim, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is actually a comedy, filled with masterful one-liners, slapstick and physical humor. Beyond the apparent darkness of the plot, kinship and caring give the play depth and charm.
“It’s so messed up, but it’s beautiful,” Robinson said. “On the surface, [the characters] aren’t beautiful people, they aren’t polished, they are rough … but deep down, there is kindness and decency and warmth.”
“It’s uncompromising. It’s not sentimental; it’s exhilarating and in your face,” Robinson added.
Written in 1962, the play lifts the veil on subjects like gender, marriage and morality. “It’s deconstructing [the stereotype of] the housewife as a goddess of the domestic space, vacuuming in pearls,” Barkin said.
Although awarded the Pulitzer Prize in its day, “Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf?” was denied the prize by the Columbia University trustees who oversaw it. The play was deemed controversial and vulgar in its use of “bad words” and talk of sex. Today, it remains a provocative piece, but in a different way.
“What remains shocking now has more to do with content: characters being pushed into spaces they’re not comfortable in,” Robinson said.
Perhaps one of the most innovative aspects of this weekend’s performance will be its location. Robinson has chosen the Cosby Courtyard, in front of Kohlberg, a location never before used for such a purpose.
“I wanted a place that would do the play justice, that would take it out of the representation of just being in a living room,” he said.
While the courtyard has walls that give it the feeling of an interior space, it is also outdoors. Its place in the heart of campus is symbolic for a play dealing with academia.
From its creative location to its four-person cast to its blend of tragedy and comedy, this performance of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is an ambitious enterprise in every way.
It will be performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Cosby Courtyard. The rain location is Sci 101.

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