The lights go down in the Marshall Theatre. The room is pitch black, until five cell phone screens light up the stage. The screens begin to move, bouncing around the stage. These dancing cell phones create an enticing opening scene to the comedy, “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

This entertaining production has been in the works for a few months. The cast members were able to get to know each other during the course of two and a half months—a long time in the theatre world. It is performed by six main actors and five members of the ensemble, who danced between scenes and creatively changed the equipment by moving robotically. The actors of the play worked together seamlessly.

The main character,  Jean, played by junior Paige Keith, is a woman who gets completely entangled in a new world simply by picking up a cell phone.

“This was the best cast and crew I have worked with,” Keith said. “It was the most fun I have had in a production since high school.”

Keith has previously performed at Linfield in “The Comedy of Errors,” “West Moon Street” and “Execution of Justice.” She is a theatre and business double major.

Keith had pre-stage jitters before the show and said that her heart was racing before each play. However, she added that the cast had performed the show so many times that they all had it down. She said she is able to get into the flow once the lights go on and she walks onstage.

Freshman Nicholas Granato, who is hoping to pursue acting as a profession, played the dead man himself. He has performed in Chekhov’s “The Bear,” “Fifth of July” and in numerous other shows. He played Gordon, a dead man who is discovered by Jean at a nondescript café.

“We had a great cast. No one ever fought,” Granato said.

However, the process was not an easy one.

“The first read through was confusing, no one knew what they were reading,” he said.

However, the play had certainly improved since the first read through; it was obvious when watching the actors that they were confident in their work.

Among Keith and Granato were seniors Grace Becket and Bailey Maxwell and juniors Daphne Dosset and  Jacob Preister. The ensemble was made up of animated actors. Sophomore Tim Marl impressed the audience with his skillful robotic moves. He has been dancing since he was four years old, and “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” was his first performance at Linfield.

The play isn’t just a mindless comedy. It brings about insightful thoughts about the effects of technology on today’s society. The characters are plagued by their cellular devices. Jean wouldn’t have ever gotten involved with Gordon’s odd family if she had ignored the obnoxious ringtone, or better yet if Gordon had politely silenced his cell phone before he died. Instead, Jean answers the cell phone, and continues to entangle herself in Gordon’s eccentric family by continuing to pick up the device. Jean simply cannot let the device go, until she learns the hard way that technology isn’t as important as she once believed.

The play was a success for the theatre department, selling out on opening night. The play will continue April 19, 20 and 21.

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Alyssa Carano/Staff photographer
Alyssa Carano can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.

Comedian Adam Mamawala’s show had both students and their parents rocking with laughter. The Feb. 25 show was one of the events for Dad’s Weekend.

According to his website, Mamawala won the title of “The King of Campus Comedy” at the New Jersey Comedy Festival in 2007.

He has performed stand-up for the past five years.

Mamawala has performed at more than 35 colleges in 15 states in the 2010-11 school year.

Mamawala’s skill with college humor was evident in the amount of laughter and applause he got from the audience.

“I didn’t know who the guy was so I wasn’t expecting much at all,” sophomore Hayley Steele said. “I thought I might laugh a little, but afterward, the guy was so funny I wished he could have stayed on stage a few more hours.”

His show explored themes like racial stereotypes, making jokes about everything from racist people to ridiculous Indian first names. Mamawala also did an impression of President Obama that had the audience gasping for breath.

“President Obama has the incredible ability to make everything he says sound really important,” Mamawala said.

He proved his point by reciting the opening lines of Dr. Seuss’s “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” in an imitation of President Obama’s voice.

Mamawala also poked fun at the advance in technology and how it has changed the way kids interact with adults.

He told stories about children’s jokes that have been given new and entirely inappropriate endings.

He read aloud what he called “the most ridiculous text message ever sent,” even calling up a volunteer from the audience to prove that he was not making it up.

The comedian moved on to making fun of political correctness, homophobic people and stupid commercials. His jokes about stupid commercials extended to advertisements for Snuggies and selling gold for cash.

“My favorite routine was him impersonating Obama, especially the part where he read Snooki quotes. But my favorite joke was ‘A Harry Potter Snuggie is both a blanket and birth control,’” Steele said.

Mamawala told a story about one radio advertisement in particular that was so bad he said he couldn’t believe it had ever been written with serious intent to sell a car.

“I don’t even have a punch line, I’m just angry,” Mamawala said.

From there, Mamawala told jokes about odd things people do only when alone in a car and encounters with law enforcement.

Mamawala wrapped up his show with a story about how he once woke up at 5:30 a.m., laughing maniacally, typed something into his phone and went back to sleep. In the morning, he said he checked his phone to discover that he had written a joke about the movie “Inception.”

“I think it’s pretty amazing that I wrote an ‘Inception’ joke in my dream,” Mamawala said.

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Sharon Gollery/Culture editor
Sharon Gollery can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.

Comedian Jonny Loquasto engages his audience during his show Nov. 5 in Ice Auditorium. Joel Ray/Photo editor

A comedian gave an interactive performance dealing with the subjects of dating and relationships.

The show took place Nov. 5 in the Ice Auditorium.

Comedian Jonny Loquasto has hosted shows for the Gameshow Network, TBS, Break.com and various shows at CBS.

“At the beginning of the show, he rearranged people in the balcony,” sophomore Tim Marl said. “He told them to sit next to each other to make relationships happen.”

Junior Julie Schoettler said she was not entirely sure what to expect, but she enjoyed the show.

“I didn’t really know what he was going to be like,” Schoettler said. “I had never heard of him before, and there weren’t a lot of people in the audience when I went in there, so I didn’t think it was going to be very good. But it was a lot better than I thought.”

Schoettler said one of her favorite parts was a remark that Loquasto made about the gender ratio.

“He made a comment about how the Linfield freshmen class is 70 percent women and 30 percent men, so the guys have good odds,” Schoettler said.

One of the most memorable parts of the show was the end, Marl said.

“He did a little dating show at the end with people he picked from the audience,” Marl said. “There were two girls and four guys. It was like a typical dating show. He asked the guys questions, and at the end, the girls had to pick which guy they liked.”

Marl said that, overall, it was a funny and engaging performance.

“I laughed a lot during the show,” Marl said.

Schoettler appreciated how Loquasto worked with the audience during his comic routine.

“He really listened to the crowd,” Schoettler said. “He listened to what we liked, what we got, what we laughed about, and he would change his jokes depending on the crowd’s reaction. The crowd liked him.”

Schoettler said that she enjoyed the show and she would watch Loquasto perform again if he came back to Linfield in the future.

“I think it’s great that ASLC puts on these events for us,” Schoettler said.

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Sharon Gollery/Culture editor
Sharon Gollery can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.

Students were kept laughing all night by a guest comedian Oct. 15 in Ice Auditorium.

Myq Kaplan had a joke for just about everything and didn’t hold back, even cracking a few jokes about audience members.

Kaplan was definitely a good pick for a young adult audience.

He told several raunchy jokes that got the whole crowd laughing, covering everything from gay to incredibly sexual jokes.

“This guy was hilarious. I loved that all his jokes related to each other in some way. He had an awkward presence but that just made him even more hilarious,” freshman Caitlynn Fahlgren said.

“He was so funny. I seriously laughed the entire time. I loved that he had a joke about absolutely everything. His level of inappropriateness wasn’t too far, but just far enough. He was really engaging with his audience. He kept making fun of one guy for his laugh and me for being late,” said freshman Laura Lichti.

Even after his performance, Kaplan kept cracking jokes.

During my interview with him he referred to me as “the Socrates of journalism” because I’m aware that I have a lot to learn, but still tried to fake being the best writer out there.

“I really liked Linfield. Most of the people here seemed really into the show and looked like they were happy to be here,” said Kaplan.

Kaplan is a 2010 Last Comic Standing finalist and has appeared on The Tonight Show, Comedy Central Presents, and The Late, Late Show with Craig Fergusen.

He tours the country regularly, and has preformed at more than 1,000 destinations

His CD, Vegan Mind Meld, was one of iTunes top best-selling comedy albums in 2010.

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Breanna Bittick/Staff writer
Breanna Bittick can be reached at linfieldreviewculture@gmail.com.