Waterman Theater hosts ‘The Appliance Department’ live play

Over the weekend, Waterman Theatre hosted yet another groundbreaking show, “The Appliance Department.” This production was school centered, starring Oswego students Tati Copp as Ruby, Jevin Ray as Charlie, and Tara Turton as Violet.

The supporting cast was made up of Oswego students Jaylita Desiree, Kieran Henderson, Roni Monroe, Nicholas Trinca, and Faith Wilk. Full cast and crew biographies are available through the digital program provided with the tickets. The play was written by professor Bella Poynton, directed by professor Jonel Langenfeld and has been registered to the prestigious American College Theatre Festival. For more information and behind the scenes tidbits you can listen to the SUNY Oswego Theatre department podcast available on Spotify under the same name as the production. 

The storyline follows the story of three sentient robots who are put on display in a department store in order to be sold as house slaves to rich human households. The set design is artfully crafted with bold colors and geometrically shaped props, some mimicking window panes, stairs, tables full of knick knacks, but front and center are three brightly colored chairs.

The lights begin dimmed as the two actors playing Ruby and Charlie settle into two of the center placed chairs, they sit completely still even when the lights turn on for several long seconds, eerily seeming inhuman. There is an automated recording of a department store opening. After a few minutes, Charlie swings around in his seat looking around dramatically but staying firmly rooted to his spot as if this big movement was supposed to be secretive. 

This elicited a few laughs from the audience. Charlie then asked Ruby if someone will come to look at them that day, to which she responded quaintly, “probably not because it is Monday,” and mentioned that most of them will be at work. The opening of this scene with questions of what may or may not happen next keyed up the dramatic tension lightly, engaging the viewers to see what will happen next and planting a seed in their minds to wonder if someone was going to come look at them in the future. With the lights now on, it was clear to see that the third chair was marked with a sign that read “sold,” hinting at what could happen to the current characters sitting in their nearly identical chairs. 

It is soon revealed through dialogue between the store manager and the actors in the chairs that these main two characters are androids. Soon, the third main character arrives, an updated and newer version of the androids named Violet. This character is clearly different from the first two in the way that she does not reveal the same naivete, appearing to know more about their situation in the world that was being built for the audience; this is the precipitation of some of the biggest changes in this storyline.

The relationship between Ruby and Charlie appears to be deeper than that with their relationship with Violet as they are more aligned in their beliefs that humans are good creatures that would bring them happiness, even after Charlie is shown evidence otherwise through a secret flash drive Violet slipped him before he left and he was abused by the couple that bought him, he still held on to some hope and conformed to the way the company wanted him to behave. Violet’s rebellious beliefs that humans were evil and wanted to oppress and take advantage of the android race shattered their happy delusions, which made it difficult for Ruby to align with her during the first few escape attempts. 

There are some references to Greek plays using the audience as a mirror when Violet turns to the spectators when disdainfully discussing the customers and during the various moments throughout the later scenes where the actors exit through the audience aisles instead of backstage. These actions make the audience feel like more of a part of the play and bring into question their own part in consumerism and the possibility of a future like the one depicted somewhere on the near horizon.

This aspect of bringing the audience into the headspace of the plot when we are on the eve of artificial intelligence taking over professional sectors left and right seems to be the most effective of all of them. The sound effects, flashing lights, beautifully crafted set pieces and costumes helped draw the eye of the audience in and drive the point home that there could be a day where we question what it really means to be a person, and if that can only continue to constitute as biologically human or something else entirely.