What do you do with a B.A. in English?
The Cabrini College theatre company answers that question, and more, in their production of Avenue Q. Avenue Q is about a recent college graduate named Princeton who sets out to find a job, an apartment and ultimately, a purpose in life. Along the way, he meets characters that all seem to be struggling to find the same thing. With songs like “What Do You Do With a B.A. in English,” “It Sucks to be Me,” “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” and “I Wish I Could Go Back to College,” Avenue Q delivers a satiric, relatable message about coming of age and entering adulthood.
“The show tells people that everyone’s purpose in life is different and some people never find their purpose, and that’s okay,” Alyssa Reape, sophomore English and secondary education major who plays the part of Lucy, said. “I think every college student can take comfort in hearing that.”
Avenue Q’s claim to fame is that a majority of their characters are puppets, with the cast working as the puppeteers, alongside human actors. The puppet characters still interact with the human characters without an explanation for why some are puppets and some are not.
“The hardest part about this musical was definitely working with puppets,” Reape said.
“First we needed to make sure that our mouths are opening and closing with each syllable that we say, and then it was a matter of keeping our arms strong enough to stay up for the whole time we’re on stage,” Kait Finnegan, senior English and theatre major playing the role of Kate Monster, said. “We had to make the puppets come to life to convince the audience that they should be watching the puppet character and not the puppeteer.”
The cast has amazing chemistry and comedic timing that will leave you wanting more. After a while, the puppets are as relatable and human as the people sitting in the audience. The characters lament about the difference between childhood and adulthood, and the audience will leave still singing the songs. The versatile freshman George Nave plays the lead role of Princeton and the role of the obsessively clean, uptight Republican, Rod. Nave embodies the spirit and inquisitive nature of recent college graduates, while also providing an entirely different neurotic dynamic for Rod.
“As the show goes on the characters reminisce about how easy college was and how the real world is too much to handle,” Finnegan said. “To find out the full story you’re just going to have to come see for yourself”
So, what do you do with a B.A. in English? Find your purpose and find out; Avenue Q is showing Friday April 19th, Saturday April 20th at 8pm and Sunday April 21st at 2pm in the Grace Hall theatre.
