By Kelly Kapowski
Megan’s nightmare was a brilliant senior thesis directed by Manhattanville’s own Anton Burek. This short play was about a girl who was living out a nightmare on stage. While the play was supposed to be a dream, the acting had the appearance of real life. There were subtle undertones to tell the audience that this was a dream. The title, while not subtle, the slow motion running scene, and the abrupt end into blackness all gave the viewer this dreamlike scenario that the director was going for.
While the play itself may have seemed random, it left the viewers to raise their own interpretations; two people may walk away from this play with two different interpretations. This does not mean that the play did not have a central plot though; on the contrary there was a deep plot line that was hidden in the dream. Anton even said that he went over with the actors and actresses the plot line because he believed that people would believe it was simply random.
An example of this is after the play, when I talked with Anton about a small role named Grimm. While Grimm has a small part in the play, she actually was very significant to the plot. She was similar to the main character, Megan, and upon questioning, Anton confirmed they were actually the same person. He said that he put a lot of research into the psychology of how people insert themselves into the dream. He says that she inserted herself into the dream to portray how her boyfriend was supposed to be abusive.
Megan’s Nightmare was definitely a psychological thriller that captivates the viewer. It was performed on both Thursday the 27th and Saturday the 29th. People who did not see this show really missed out. It will be interesting to see what work Anton will come up with after he leaves college.