“Our House,” directed by Theatre Director and assistant professor Brian Newberg, will debut on Friday at Kent State University’s Stark Theatre in the Fine Arts building at 8 p.m.   The production will also be performed on April 5, 11, and 12, also at 8 p.m. The show will have American Sign Language interpretations April 6 and 13 at 2:30 p.m.  

Tickets can be purchased at the box office, inside the fine arts lobby, by phone or online.  All Kent State students will receive free admission with current Kent State ID. However, seats reserved for students must be done in person at the box office in Stark.  

Newberg picked “Our House” for part of the 2013-2014 season of shows done by Kent State’s theatre department because it deals with today’s obsession with television culture and the role of the media in our society.  “It deals with very many different layers of reality television,” Newberg said.  “I think it makes some very interesting food for thought.”

“Our House,” written by Theresa Rebeck, is about a celebrity journalist who is hired to host a popular reality TV show. Meanwhile, in a house with a group of people, tensions rise over ones unhealthy obsession that leads to a dramatic scene where the journalist is then given the opportunity to interview them all on live television.  

Cassandra Terry, a junior human development and family studies major with a minor in theatre performance at Kent State Stark, plays Grigsby, one of the main characters in the house.  

“I try to mediate the peace in the house between the protagonist and antagonist,” she said without wanting to give away any more spoilers.

She encourages everyone to come see the production, as the cast and crew have put in a lot of time rehearsing since the beginning of February. The cast and crew also rehearsed through spring break.  

“Come see it,” Terry said.  “There’s yelling, there’s screaming, there’s sex, there’s sultry.”

Terry said she thinks the play is a large mashup of what the media is now today, and it brings it all out into the open in a living room aspect.

Newberg said he likes to put on productions that make people think and shows about things that are relatively interesting to today’s audience. Newberg said students, community members and others should come see “Our House” “if they’re interested in the world they live in, and if they’re interested in the role that television and the media play in their lives.”

Not only is Our House thought provoking, it has a good strong drama and some dark satire.  

“I’m very proud of what the students have accomplished,” Newberg said. “We end every show with a big bang, and this one will be no different than the rest.”

Julia Adkins is the commuter and regional campuses reporter for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].