Thesis to ‘Waltz’ Into Hill Theater Over Weekend

The farcical meets the deadly serious in The Baltimore Waltz, the senior thesis show of director Sophie Blumberg '12 and actors Aeneas Hemphill '12 and Robyn Rae Stype '12.

The Baltimore Waltz portrays the relationship between siblings Carl (Hemphill) and Anna (Stype) as the two face the reality of Anna's diagnosis with Acquired Toilet Disease, or ATD. A satirical take on the AIDS epidemic, ATD seems only to affect young, unmarried schoolteachers. With a limited time for Anna to live, the two embark on a long-dreamed of whirlwind tour of Europe.

The absurdity of the premise only highlights the emotional depths and situations into which Anna and Carl plunge as they attempt to cram a lifetime's worth of experiences into a final month together.

This is not to say that the siblings get along easily.

"A lot of the action of the play is the push-pull between the siblings," Hemphill said.

"Anna and her brother interpret this trip very differently," Blumberg said. "Carl goes to museums and historical sites and goes sightseeing. Anna eats really good food and sleeps around. She goes for the much more visceral, physical experience, whereas Carl goes for the intellectual."

Throughout the drama of the play, the Third Man character, reminiscent of the film noir era, remains consistent. Played by Tim Jurney '15, the Third Man plays every other role in the show, from the doctor who diagnoses Anna with ATD to Carl's old college friend.

"[Jurney] plays something like 15 characters," Blumberg said. "He's doing a great job. It's a really challenging part, and he's taking it by the horns."

Blumberg's challenge in directing Waltz was managing the complexities of these characters.

"It is a very stylized, compact play," Blumberg said. "My goal was to create an ensemble more than three individual actors, because they needed to be so in tune with each other. I wanted them to function as a group."

The farcical action of the play also required a unique style of directing.

"Approaching the absurd from a very grounded way and approaching the grounded from an absurd perspective is the approach I took with it," Blumberg said regarding her directing style for the production. "It has very dark emotional things going on under the surface, but most of the tone of the play is very light and satirical and farcical. We did a lot of work playing with that balance in rehearsal."

The underlying reality of the AIDS epidemic behind Anna's ATD has roots in the playwright's own history. Paula Vogel wrote The Baltimore Waltz in 1987 as her brother, Carl, was dying of AIDS. Her brother passed away before the siblings could complete their own long-anticipated tour of Europe.

"[The play] is very much her eulogy to Carl," Blumberg said.

Despite these heavy elements, Blumberg emphasized that the play will make the audience laugh.

"[The humor of the show] is all based in truth," Hemphill said. "The things that are really funny, the jokes that people connect to, are the ones based in truth."

Blumberg, Hemphill and Stype all gave tribute to their design team for their work in creating Carl and Anna's world.

"Our design team has gone above and beyond for this," Blumberg said. "The world of this play is very theatrical and abstract and absurd. I gave them a challenge at the beginning, telling them to go as far as they wanted with this. I gave them a lot of room to play as designers, which you don't always get as a student."

"This whole adventure takes flight from one room," Stype said. "A lot of it is created through sound and lighting. The technical team painted this world for us."

The Baltimore Waltz goes up in at the Hill Theater on Friday, Jan. 27 and Sunday, Jan. 29 at 8:00 p.m.