“A Thurber Carnival” – 9/10

At the NIU School of Theater and Dance’s Players Theatre, there were no elephants, clowns or cotton candy at “A Thurber Carnival.” Instead, there was a brilliant display of raw talent and marvelous teamwork.

In theater, it is difficult to accomplish forming a cast where no one upstages another cast member by taking the spotlight. With a cast consisting of five males and four females, director Jaclyn Biskup picked the ideal cast as the nine members worked together to make the play sensational rather than individuals trying to one-up each other.

As the audience took their seats, the stage was set with a simple scene design of a piano on stage right and a few lighted, moveable panels. This scene design made it possible for the actors to keep the pace of the play moving steady without having to pause for a scene change. Instead, the pianist William Goldenburg played a light-hearted tune as the characters took no more than a minute to rearrange the scenery between skits.

For an actor and actress, it takes a great deal of skill to portray a character in a meaningful way to an audience, but even harder yet is for one person to portray several characters to an audience within one show. As nine different cast members shared the 14 different skits, the talent of each member shone equally. Never did any of the actors turn their backs to the audience while speaking; all of them could still be heard although no microphones were used. Their facial expressions reeled the audience into what was happening in the life of each of the characters portrayed.

All of the skits included some moral message. One of the skits in the first act entitled “If Grant Had Been Drinking At Appomattox,” makes the audience laugh at the idea of what would have happened at the end of the Civil War if General Grant were not on top of his game. The highlight of the play was the skit “Mr. Preble Gets Rid of his Wife.”

“The skit was entertaining and the twist at the end was awesome,” said freshman psychology major Wesley Van Slyke.

“A Thurber Carnival” was one of the best shows put on by the NIU School of Theatre and Dance. Although the costumes were bright and colorful, that description holds more true to the actors who made the “Carnival” a delight.

“The theater was hot, but the play was great,” said sophomore nursing major Becky Gottardo.

So, before the television is turned on, or Facebook logged onto, check out “A Thurber Carnival” showing at the Steven’s Building Players Theatre through this weekend. Tickets are $7 for students and $14 for adults.