Photo via CUP

Megan McGregor was on hand to catch the CU Players’ final performance of Let Us Go Out Into The Starry Night: Three Plays.

Last night, Lerner’s Black Box seemed cozier than usual—a side effect of an encroaching audience. A nearly full house watched the cast of Let Us Go Out Into The Starry Night: Three Plays frolic and move props about the stage as a few last stragglers strolled into the theater. After one actor put a trunk under the feet of an unsuspecting and amused couple, the lights went out and the first play, The Red Coat by John Patrick Shanley, began.

In The Red Coat, Lorenzo Landini plays a drunk student who waits outside a party for the girl with whom he is in love, played by Hannah Kloepfer. Lorenzo’s portrayal of a drunkard was heartwarming, light, and surprisingly accurate for a college student. In all seriousness, Lorenzo plays a role that could have been easily overdone, yet he plays it with a charming easiness. Hannah Kloepfer, known for her role as a French hen in XMAS! 4, also gives a convincing performance. Hannah portrays her role of a kind girl grappling with the loss of her youth endearingly.

Jonathan Gutterman and Tina Garrity star in the second play, also by John Patrick Shanley, entitled Let Us Go Out into the Starry Night. The play opens with Tina arguing about her skinniness with a wooden doll while monsters/spirits play with an apathetic Jonathan. Perhaps the most haunting of the three plays, Into the Starry Night leaves the audience questioning the theme of all three plays of aloneness and togetherness.

The final play, Am I Blue, by Beth Henley, was a perfect ending to the evening. Starring Jake Coppola and Victoria Pollack, Am I Blue tells of the meeting a drunk college student on the eve of his birthday and a delinquent high school-aged girl. The two meet at a bar, hating each other initially. By the end of the evening, they grow to understand each other’s loneliness. Jake plays an angsty frat boy who feels as though he is a “sheep.” Jake does so heartbreakingly and with great skill. Victoria’s up-and-down role of a cutesy delinquent is done flawlessly.

Over all, Into the Starry Night, directed by Jenny Vallancourt, was a brilliant combination of plays, all filled with great performances by talented actors. Columbia University Player’s Let Us Go Out into the Starry Night ran Thursday through Saturday this weekend.