‘Escaped Alone’ serves apocalyptic themes with tea

Join three old friends and their apocalyptic-obsessed guest for tea at the MSU Theatre Department’s next studio play, “Escaped Alone.”

Set in an English garden, the friends in their 70s begin to discuss their deepest fears and struggles when Mrs. J, the catalyst of their dark conversation, joins the group. 

Sarah Kottke plays Mrs. J. Her character brings up many visions about the end of the world, developing fears in the rest of the women. 

“‘Escaped Alone’ is about four older women who are typically an underrepresented group in society. They are sitting in a garden, in their little bubble, drinking tea. But, my character, Mrs. J, breaks their structure and pops into monologues and visions about the end of the world,” Kottke said. “There are a lot of apocalyptic themes and themes of feminism and union in this show.”

Liz Albenesius plays Lena and says the play is abstractly written and is up for interpretation when explaining its theme. 

“Some of the stuff is hard to get your head around and can be otherworldly,” Albenesius said. “I interpret the themes of the play as being ‘listening’ and ‘communication.’ As we gradually start to listen to Mrs. J but don’t necessarily hear her at first, we will start to listen, and there is a unique sense of how we interpret her.” 

Stage manager Jay Wetenkamp says each character has a moment in the play where they discuss their biggest fears and difficulties, showing their vulnerable sides to the audience. 

“One of the characters has agoraphobia, another has a phobia of cats, and one has trauma from killing her husband,” he said. “They all have moments where they talk about these heavy topics, but eventually return to having a good time and sipping tea.” 

Albenesius says the audience should not hesitate to laugh at certain scenes, even if they seem dark. 

“People might not know it’s OK to laugh. It’s a distinct type of humor, and you have to grasp onto it,” Albenesius said. “If you are reading this, allow yourself to let go, and be prepared for the story to fluctuate because we abruptly go from a laughing moment to being frozen when Mrs. J has her monologues.” 

Wetenkamp says the cast and crew have worked on this production since early September. The process of creating a show such as this one involves learning lines, blocking each scene and eventually including the technical aspects of the show.  

“We add lighting, sound and costumes during tech week, which is at the end of production,” he said.

“Escaped Alone” runs Oct. 23-26 in the Andreas Theatre at the Earley Center for Performing Arts. Tickets can be purchased online at  MSUTheatre.com or at the box office in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center. 

Photo Caption: Set in an English garden, “Escaped Alone” invites the audience into the lives of four older women who converse while sharing tea when one of them brings up visions about the end of the world, developing fears in the rest of the women. (Troy Yang/The Reporter)

Write to Tina Dolan at dolatinaj@gmail.com