“Salting the Campus”

A review of the Performing Arts Department’s latest show.
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Many of you may have seen or played a part in our Performing Arts Department’s latest production, “Salting the Campus”, which has been running the past few weeks and I must say, it is their best yet. It was masterfully performed and incredibly well written.  

Plot

The story was quite gripping. I’ve seen many theater productions in my life, but this one takes the cake.  It had drama, action, comedy, and much much more. The story follows a group of individuals covering a college campus with salt and working to make the paths walkable, so students are able to traverse them and get to class safely.  Much to the surprise of everyone, this proves to be quite an uphill battle. I’ve seen several actors around campus pretending to slip and fall on the paths. This performance adds to the drama and gives us onlookers a window from which we can observe the struggle of the side characters that our protagonists are so desperately trying to protect.  I’ve found myself slipping into the narrative and often coming close to involuntarily joining in on the production but I’m so close to graduation, I can’t afford to get a minor in Performing Arts at this point.

Acting

The acting was superb as always. Throughout my time here, I’ve seen a wide range of our Performing Arts Department’s productions, for example, during my freshman year “Men in an Oriskany Common Area Watch TV While Paint Dries”.  Back then, I was naive and had thought that despite the convincing performance, there was no chance that the Performing Arts students at our school could put on a real show of quality.  Despite my pessimistic attitude, the Performing Arts Department has done their best to sweep me off my feet with this production. From the ground up, this show was astounding.

Production Value

This show had the highest budget of all of the shows I’ve seen so far on campus.  Unlike previous smaller shows, fans all around campus are falling over themselves to show their appreciation for the performance.  The set-pieces, such as piles of salt around campus or the rare plow truck definitely helps build the immersion that I am actually at a school that is trying to make the paths safer to walk on.  The noticeable difference in road quality on campus compared to the surrounding area is just another masterful detail in the web of quality we have all found ourselves knee deep in.

Negative Notes

I did find some of the story to be a bit ridiculous and the suspension of disbelief is needed to fully enjoy the show.  One glaring plot hole that stuck with me was that on some of the more hazardous days like the big ice storm arc in act 1, any school worth their salt would have had cancelled classes rather than have the students walk in such awful conditions.  This sequence was clearly put in to build tension but I don’t think it felt very realistic and it took me out of the show for a bit.

Conclusion

“Salting the Campus” was a riveting tale that I won’t soon forget.  The second it started, I could feel myself slipping deeper and deeper into the narrative and before I knew it I was falling head over heels for this production.  To say that I’m a fan would be an understatement. Such an impressive show raises the bar for any future theatrical performances of our Performing Arts Department.  If I didn’t know any better, I might have believed that we actually had people salting and plowing the paths around campus which we all know is a work of fiction too outlandish for anyone to believe.

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