Residence Play Analysis

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Friday, March 18 I watched “Residence” written by Laura Jacqmin and directed by Hl Brooks. Residence is a part Louisville’s 50th Humana Festival of New American Plays hosted by Actors Theatre and sponsored by Humana. The play centers on Maggie (Danielle Slavick) a sales representative for a medical supply company.) who checks into the Residence, a long term stay hotel in Tempe, Arizona. She becomes friends with hotel employees Bobby (Alejandro Rodriguez) and Theresa (Leah Karpel). Throughout this play, each character has their personal struggle revealed. Theresa struggles towards customer efficiency with sexism and school tuition as her obstacles. Bobby faces conflict with the mother of his newborn child. Maggie, our main character, battles depression, suicidal thoughts, debt, and estrangement all at same time. Like most plays, the characters come to a resolution with their lives while also gaining a better understanding of each other. …show more content…

On basic level, I understood Theresa and her struggle to be the best despite the pressures of the world. Karpel truly embodied Theresa as a character seamlessly. Karpel was able to convey to the audience that her character used mask happiness and courtesy to smooth away the frustrations without overselling it to the point that it becomes annoying. Instead, the audience understands and immediately sympathizes with her. My heart and hope went out to her every time she repeated “Five Star Service” like mantra, trying to gain self-control over the situation. Her body language evoked the right amount of distress yet resilience that I found inspiring and comforting amongst the train wrecks that are her co-worker and customer. Although she was not the main character, she did well making her role stand out without drawing too unneeded focus to her

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