by Mirgena Demneri
What starts as two confused babies trying to figure out what their gender is, ends with advice for successful relationships. All the emotions of being in love or out of it, burst out during the “Battle of the Sexes,” the scene showcase recently on stage at the News-Journal Center.
Executed carefully and passionately by the students in the acting classes at Daytona State College, the animated lover’s quarrel took centerstage last month in the Gillespy Theatre. It had in it the passion of the hopeful, the virtues of the good, the evil in the bad, the desperation in the sad, the bitterness in the ugly, the excitement from leg exposures and profane language, all reflecting modern life.
The show is composed in the three most important phases that a relationship goes through, from the moment Cupid’s arrow hits to the day we hate the one we swore to live the rest of our life with. Director Samantha Stern gently integrates monologues in a live setting and on the screen projector, there were scenes from romantic movies and television shows, as well as a monologue by student Corey Hoffman. Alexa Miles recited verses from a humorous poem, while scenes from the sitcoms “Friends,” “Seinfeld” and “Sex in the City,” were interspersed with unforgettable movies like “Superstar,” “Twilight” and “Night of the Living Dead.” Such effects were used masterfully not only to separate the three “rounds” of the Battle, but also to put the audience in a relationship mood.
The first round was the moment the heart starts beating for someone, the “Pick-up” being followed by “Break- up” and “Make –up.” Small ensembles, duets and solo singers brought out the talents of Sasha Lucas, Jaclyn Wilary, Melissa Williams, Zach Flores, Alec Robinson and Steven Cork
Characters representing The Straight, The Swinger, The Bisexual and The Player came through the acting of Patrick Moffett, Vin Davis, Echano Mahone, Jonathan Shank and Tyler Burkett, David Sabato and David Bellish. Opinionated couples ─ Patrick Moffet and Merris Willingham, Samantha Hill and Kevin Oats, Jonathan Shank and Mercedes Davis, Alec Robinson and Heather Beam ─ reveal colorful interactions of people who meet through newspaper classified ads to those undergoing therapy sessions for reconciliations.
The ladies in the audience were wooed by the featured actors and heard, firsthand, pick-up lines direct from bars, the mall or the beach. The deep sexy voices of Andrew Roberts, Edd Gordon and Xavier Smith made the ladies blush. Monologues mastered by Alexa, in her tutu and floral costumes, Moffet, J.J. Hutchinson and Hoffman brought sympathy and laughs over the couples’ troubles.
The eternal struggle between the sexes is ongoing between women and men. Although different in their needs and passions, the moral of the story is people in love ultimately remain connected and are destined to look for each other in eternity. The artistic work and the simple contemporary décor and arrangement, gave observers the feeling that even though love is hard to find in modern times, fighting for it is not a lost cause.