Zoë Strickland | Editor-in-Chief

Vampires, film and dance collide in “Why Cross Chaos,” the newest theatre production put on by Western’s theatre and dance department. The show will open on May 30.

The devised play, which is guest directed by Portland-based director and choreographer Jessica Wallenfels, takes place on three planes: the ‘real world’ in 2027, where immigration has been made illegal and people are trying to resist oppressive forces that keep them in refugee camps; the primal, where characters go to escape the real world; and the in-between, where characters drift between the real world and the primal. The primal world is where Les Vampires, a vampire gang, come in — they’re thieves and murderers who are portrayed in the play as masked dancers, most often performing the Apache dance. Apache, a dance similar to a waltz, involves hair pulling and slapping and serves as a visual representation of the aggressive 2027 world.  

“In our production, almost everything is a dance,” said Wallenfels. “There are choreographed, unison-style dances and there are scenes with very few words, where the interactions between the characters are danced.”

Though the play is based on the 1915 serial series “Les Vampires,” directed by Louis Feuillade, the formation of “Why Cross Chaos” was a collaborative effort between Wallenfels and the cast. The collaboration began at auditions, where auditionees had to watch an episode of the series and come back with an original response to what they had watched. After the 12-person cast was chosen, small groups of people were assigned different parts of the series to watch and report back on.

“(Wallenfels) gave us the frame of gut-hits and questions,” said A.J. Saddler, senior BFA in acting major, who plays Maz, one of the characters tasked with tracking the gang. “So, if there’s something that really got your attention in the episode or something that hit your gut or questions about certain plots … or questions about how we might be able to utilize elements of the movie into our play, even though we don’t know the plot or anything. We would make lists.”

From there, they would decide what parts to pick out and highlight in the production.

“What makes ‘Why Cross Chaos’ unique to me is that it is a piece entirely made out of collaboration,” said junior theatre major Phoebe Thompson, who plays Delphine. “And with that, it is a very absurd piece that has a lot of factors to it.  It’s one of those shows that will impact everybody individually.”

“I love that it reflects every single person who’s worked on it, from the actors, to the assistant directors and dramaturg, to our assistant choreographer and designers,” noted Wallenfels. “There are pieces of text that one actor brought to an audition, which show up spoken by another actor in a completely different context in the show. Overall ‘Why Cross Chaos’ has a voracious, go-for-broke spirit that is kinetic and visceral. It is ridiculous at many points but came from a very serious question: How can I make impact in a world so full of chaos?”

In addition to being a take on “Les Vampires,” the play also comments on social issues, like gender representation and stereotypes.

“We didn’t go in saying ‘hey, we want to comment on America’ … As we went on, we ended up getting into more and more conversations about, for example, Irma Vep in the movie not really falling into the stereotype of women that they may have based back in 1915 or now,” said Saddler. “We ended up getting into this conversation about gender and gender norms and ‘how could we break that, how could we not portray typically masculine, typically feminine’ … through the writing process I think it was a conscious decision to be able to comment on society.”

The play works against these social norms by having Vep portrayed by multiple cast members, as well as including relationship subplots with people of any gender.

“Why Cross Chaos” is a multi-layered play that uses bits of comedy to lure viewers into the horrific world originally created by Feuillade.

“I think that this is a very somewhat different take or approach to theater that (Western) has taken in the past few years … it may not be a typical play that you may see at Western, but I think that if you jump in and go along with us, you’ll be pleasantly surprised,” commented Saddler.

“Why Cross Chaos” is playing in Rice Auditorium from May 30 to June 2. Tickets are available at the box office. Those who are looking for more information can contact the box office at 503-838-8462.

Contact the author at journaleditor@wou.edu

Photo by: Paul F. Davis