This year, the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama has chosen "the wages of fame" as the theme for its season. To kick things off, the drama department selected John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, and invited guest Karen Carpenter to direct the show. The sold-out performances ran from October 5 to 14. The first major School of Drama production to be performed in the Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater, The House of Blue Leaves deals with the hope, pain, and promise of living in a world where the Vietnam War has left a country of people raw and confused, dreams are hard to achieve, and life itself is too much to comprehend.

Taking place in 1960s Queens, New York, The House of Blue Leaves revolves around Artie, played by CFA senior Patrick Cummings, and the strange circumstances of his life. He wants to make a name for himself as a composer, but his songs are ill received by most people. His wife Bananas (CFA senior Thea Brooks) is crazy and has become too much for Artie to handle, while his mistress, Bunny (CFA senior Abbie McFarlane), puts extreme pressure on him to improve both of their lives. What makes things even more complicated is that the Pope is in town, and Artie and Bananas' soldier son Ronnie (CFA senior Craig DeLorenzo) is hell-bent on assassinating him. Add some high-energy nuns and a deaf girl, and Artie's struggle for fame and control becomes clear. By the end, he is left with nothing he wants and everything he hoped to leave behind, a fact that drives him to a tragic end.

The show itself was difficult for some to grasp. The world of the characters is skewed and crooked, both figuratively and literally, as the slanted doors and paintings hung on the ceiling demonstrated. The play moved very slowly at first, explaining Artie's situation to the tiniest detail, and then very quickly sped up, using farce and absurdity to propel the characters along. The action, ranging from slow motion martial arts style fighting to melodramatic sobbing, felt uneven and uncomfortable, making it difficult to really get into the play. For most shows, this would be considered a negative, but for The House of Blue Leaves it worked out perfectly: by putting all this commotion onstage, the viewer became as confused as the characters, demonstrating just how bizarre the world actually is.

Although the script seemed very random, the acting was spot on. Cummings allowed the fragility and last bit of hope in Artie to come through in everything he did, all the way down to his walk. The loquacious and slightly manic Bunny came to life through McFarlane, who played her with energy and determination. As Ronnie, DeLorenzo took a desperate killer-to-be and actually made him funny and even charming.

While all the actors did a good job, it was Brooks who stole the show. As the loony Bananas, Brooks used humor, quirkiness, and honesty to bring about a loveable, sympathetic character. At no point did Brooks lose track of her character's nervous energy or her generally pathetic nature, serving as a base point for the strange reality of the play.

The House of Blue Leaves, while taking place in the Vietnam era, has a message that could very easily be applied to modern America: when it comes to a world of uncertainty, lies, faith, hope, and desperation can make a person do some pretty drastic things to make peace and get attention. For this reason, the show made a fitting, if not outlandish, start to this year's season.

For more information about upcoming School of Drama performances, visit the department's website.

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