Dead Men Actually Do Tell Tales

Dead Man's Cell Phone
Written By Sarah Ruhl
Directed By Mayra Mazor
Through Oct. 16
Hallberg Theatre
Cal State Fullerton Campus
Five Scoops of Bosco

The Department of Theatre and Dance’s production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone opened to a full house.

Set in the black box of the Hallberg Theatre, the play was an intimate presentation. There wasn’t much of a use of technology in the play but it wasn’t lacking in substance. Actors in white coats and umbrellas, talking on cell phones nonetheless, set scene changes subtly as you heard fragments of their sometimes very personal conversations.

Sarah Iversen, 21, from Whittier, watched the play and was surprised by how polished the production was. “I thought it would be amateur but I was surprisingly very entertained. It grabbed my attention the entire time,” said Iversen.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone’s tells the tale of a young woman named Jean who encounters a ringing cell phone by her side.

The man next to Jean refuses to answer his phone and her patience is tested. When Jean can no longer stand the ringing, she confronts the man and demands that he answer it. Upon confronting the man, Jean discovers that he is dead and decides to answer his phone for him.

As she begins answering his phone time and time again, she is steadily drawn deeper and deeper into the dead man’s life and learns a lesson about how to live her own life and love to the fullest.

The play, written by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl and starring Brooke Rogers as Jean, is an exciting venture for the department.

Jim Volz, senior professor and adviser for the Department of Theatre and Dance, described the production of the play as being an unusual situation because a guest director, Mayra Mazor, was hired to put the production together.

“We very seldom hire guest directors. We have so many professional directors on our faculty already,” said Volz.

According to Volz, Dead Man’s Cell Phone is a departure from the other productions that Cal State Fullerton has put on over the years.

“We thought this was a perfect blend of a new play because Sarah Ruhl is one of the hottest playwrights in America today. She’s in the top 10 in America of all playwrights including Shakespeare and Chekhov and Ibsen…in terms of professional theaters producing her plays,” Volz said.

The premise of the play makes it sound like a thriller, but it is technically a comedy disguised as commentary on the technological age we live in.

According to the program notes, Mazor said, “All of us are in a hurry, a mad race to answer the phone, text, email, Facebook message, to check voicemail on cell, home, work. Clearly, our need to connect to each other is great! We can’t seem to help ourselves. And yet, so many of us feel as if the tools that are meant to connect us only serve to push us further apart.”

Mazor’s ingenuity is evident in the last, breathtaking scene right before the intermission. There is a tender kiss and at that moment, shredded paper rains from the rafters and houses made of paper, origami swans and dimly lit light bulbs descend on stings. The audience can’t help but lose itself in the moment.

Dead Man’s Cell Phone is playing at the Hallberg Theatre and runs through Oct. 16. Single tickets are $11 ($10 with advance Titan discount).

Reviewed by Joey Becerra
Mr. Becerra is the Managing Editor at the Daily Titan
Photo from The Cal State Fullerton Theater Department