Diabetes, Hepatitis, and 'God'

Every play must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The same can be said for life. And within that time period, humans often question reality and the metaphysical world. But what if everything you ever knew before was shown to be wrong? What if reality as we know it, does not really exist? What if we are merely actors in someone else’s play? And even still, what if this play came from inside Woody Allen’s head?

This weekend, on October 4th and 5th, the Armory Free Theatre takes on these notions in a production of Woody Allen’s comedy God (A Play).

God (A Play) shows a play within a play within a play, endlessly questioning the fundamental questions of life: Is there a God? What is the purpose of life? Can a woman really have an orgasm?

The play mimics life, where questions are never fully answered and always fully explored, while surprises pop up and beliefs are constantly questioned.

On the surface, God (A Play) focuses on two characters, Hepatitis, a playwright and Diabetes, an actor, in a setting that is a mixture of ancient Greece and a modern campus town. As Hepatitis struggles to write an ending for his newest play, he discovers many new things about the world, and finds that everything he had ever known, or thought he knew, was wrong. The play takes on notions of fate, faith, and fidelity, in a way only Woody Allen can.

Michael Sullivan, junior in acting, who plays Diabetes, says the play focuses on “finding the meaning of life, when all the rules have flown out the window.”

“[The play is] philosophical of God, and questions what would happen without God. Would everything just stop, and, if so, what do we do then? Do we keep going?” adds Sari Sanchez, freshman in acting, who plays Doris, an unsuspecting spectator and philosophy major who gets caught up into the play and begins questioning her own reality.

Director Steven Rubinshteyn, a senior in performance studies, describes the play as taking place “inside Woody Allen’s head, where surprises happen, where you can’t really tell what’s happening, and there is no set reality”

Kevin Miller, a junior in acting, who plays Diabetes, was attracted to the play for many reasons. He says, “Steve is a colleague and friend of mine. He brought it up to me and I read it and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I thought it would be a good outlet to try some fun funny things.”

Rubinshteyn chose the play because “it asks serious questions but it does so in a very humorous way.”

To prepare for directing the show, Rubinshteyn read Woody Allen’s biography and watched a lot of his movies, and describes the play as being a reflection of Woody Allen and his philosophies. He describes Woody Allen as being “a two sided figure, one side very pessimistic, as people see in the movies, the other side optimistic. He hopes that there is a God, but he also doesn’t know if there is a God. [Woody Allen’s philosophy is that] the only thing that you can do is just be grateful for what you have. For the small things in life. Because if you don’t you’ll just go in a circle.”

To account for this, Rubinshteyn directed Miller and Sullivan to each play their character as one of these sides of Woody Allen. Michael Sullivan plays Hepatitis as the neurotic side of Allen, always questioning life, never quite sure of what is happening, always scared of what is to come. On the other hand, Kevin Miller plays Diabetes as the more secure side, a man who is more confident in life, and takes things for what they are.

The biggest challenge in preparing for God (A Play) was scheduling. Many of the actors are also in an upcoming Department of Theater production of Othello, so they have to split their time between the two shows, and it is hard for them to coordinate schedules. Sanchez adds that she faced a big challenge in preparing for her character because “Woody Allen tends to write his female characters very one dimensionally. That is really challenging for me, but its also interesting to try and explore that… Steve [Rubinshteyn] and the other actors provided a comfortable environment where I felt free to explore.”

The Armory Free Theatre is a student organization sponsored by the department of theater, which allows students to explore their creativity through directing, acting, and technical work. Performances are free and open to the public.

God (A Play) will be performed this weekend on Friday, October 4th at TIME and on Saturday, October 5th at TIME. The Armory Free Theater is located in Room 160 of the Armory, on campus, at 505 East Armory Drive, Champaign.