“With theatre, not only are you getting the art as intended, but you’re getting interpretation, too. It’s so holistic in the most beautiful way,” said Audrey Buffington ’24. 

Buffington played Sam in Wofford theatre’s production of “Twilight Bowl” by Rebecca Gilman. The play showed on Nov. 4-6 and 10-13. 

The production featured six female characters: Sam, a college girl competing for a bowling scholarship; Jaycee, a woman on her way to prison; Clarice, a woman concerned about her dwindling friendship with Jaycee; Brielle, a bartender and good listener; Sharlene, a deeply religious transgender woman and Maddy, a girl with a troubling secret who is looking to get drunk.

Many social and political topics were packed into the production, inclduing prison life, religious devotion, classism, sexuality, transphobia, substance abuse and abortion rights.

“Audiences can expect to laugh and enjoy themselves, but at the same time they will be challenged and provoked by the material, the characters and the staging,” said Daniel Day, associate professor of theatre and the play’s director, in “Conquer and Prevail” Issue #86.

Buffington said that in the past, she has played pretty nice characters, and “With Sam, I thought I liked her (during) the first table read, and then it hit me (that she says something racist), and it hit the others too.”

The script for the production was slightly adjusted to accommodate for the lack of an all-female cast. For example, Mac Gavin ‘24 explained that lines were added into the play which address the topic of transphobia. 

“Since we cast Taylor Giles, who identifies as male, and Sharlene identifies as female, we had to adjust the character,” Gavin said. 

Preparing for the play required some prep work to sufficiently acquaint the cast with their characters.

“There’s always the Essential Questions paper, where you figure out what your character’s life is,” said Buffington. “We also did this teaching exercise, where we came in as our characters and taught a lesson to the group. I went to Goodwill and got myself a costume that Sam would totally wear.”

Unlike past years, the COVID-19 pandemic affected the way the actors presented themselves onstage. The actors sat on bar stools on a cross-shaped stage, all seated far apart from each other and facing the audience.

“It’s kind of difficult to not see each other,” said Gavin. “But, even though we can’t see each other, we did a lot of prep work building our relationships.”

According to Hailie Gold ‘23, about 90% of theatre majors and minors work on every production. However, each production is not exclusive to members of the department.

Gold said that anyone can work on the shows and no experience is required. 

“In the major, we all have different interests and focuses within the discipline, so there’s something for everyone,” said Gold.

“The theatre classes range from design, to acting to dramaturgical studies,” Gold continued. “Classes in the major include skill building exercises, architecture drafting, monologues, literary case studies, scenes and writing/producing original plays.”

“We are given tons of room to play and form ensemble(s) with the other majors and minors,” said Gold. “That also includes everyone else that wishes to be involved.”

Although this production has come and gone, there will still be plenty of opportunities to view or participate in any or all future Wofford productions.