Many different plays have been done at Bishop O’Dowd, but in the past two years, both winter plays that have taken place in the black box have been American Realism. In American Realism, the play explores more realistic and historical stories with a greater meaning that relates to the audience.
This winter, the theater department decided to put on the show All My Sons by Arthur Miller, directed by Trina Oliver, or as her students like to call her, “Mizzo.” All My Sons tells the story of a dysfunctional family living in the Midwestern United States in 1946, after World War II. Triscella Saucedo-Duncan ’25 offers insight into why the theater department decided on doing All My Sons, “The play expands on the idea of family and community that O’Dowd has instilled in the students, which is so important.” Not only does the play touch on the concept of family, but it also touches on the emotions tied to war. Benji Wolmark (26), who plays the role of Joe Keller offers a deeper perspective, stating, “It deals with many deep and nuanced subjects, with much stuff it talks about, for example, war profiteering, and the social and mental cost of wars.” I then asked him about maybe why putting on All My Sons, in particular, was important at this time. He said, “I think it is especially relevant right now with the heating political situations that are happening all around the world to put on this play for people to understand more about the effects of war.”
The story of the Keller family and their dysfunctional relationships after World War II reiterates the central ideas of
family and the costs of war. After Kate Keller and Joe Keller’s son, Larry, goes missing, they go through an emotional rollercoaster as they mourn their son.
The depth of this play leads one to wonder how the content would affect audiences of different ages, especially the teenagers playing the roles of such intense characters. As teenagers often lack the life experience that leads to the type of heavy emotion the play’s characters carry, they may not be able to relate to or understand their characters as easily. Benji commented on this, “I definitely think there will be a difference, I think that the main plot will get tough but there will be a lot of discoveries and changes in the subtext that are made that will bring out because we are teens and have our perspectives on the world.” With the difference in age for the audience that wants to attend, there also may be very different reactions that are formulated due to its topics. “I’m sure a forty-year-old with a family would agree more with the actions of Joe Keller than someone our age because of the differences of experience in life,” Benji continued.
An American Realism play such as Arthur Miller’s All My Sons can expand the minds of audience members on subjects such as family and the costs of war. O’Dowd’s theater production will pull yet another amazing show off this winter and the rest of the school is more than excited to see it.
