Catch-22 Marathon Reading

Here at Penn State the arts are surrounding us every day. This year the College of Liberal Arts sponsored a marathon reading of the novel Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller. What even is a marathon reading? I have never heard of such an event until posters advertising the reading were posted all over campus. Something like this seemed odd to me at first, but the idea grew on me as time went by. Being a freshman, I was still learning about all the opportunities that Penn State had to offer. This event seemed like a great way for me to get involved, while experiencing the community around me.  

The marathon reading began at 1:00 p.m., on the lawn in front of the Paterno/Pattee Library. This reading allowed students and faculty to come together and read the entire novel in five to seven minute increments. The reading took over twenty-four hours to complete and continued through the night. People were encouraged to bring pillows and blankets to camp out overnight while listening to the reading. Pizza was served for dinner and breakfast was served for those who were still there in the morning. People were allowed to sign up for a time slot and then read a part of the novel. The author of Catch-22, Joseph Heller, was a former Penn State Professor. He started to write this novel while teaching his first-year composition class. This information taught me something about the Penn State community, and I ended up attending the marathon reading for a little to see what it was all about.

            

I arrived to the lawn at about nine p.m. There were a lot less people there then I had originally expected. I was not signed up to read, but my roommate was so I thought I would sit and listen to her and a few other people. When I first sat down an older woman was at the podium reading into the microphone. She read with such enthusiasm and made it very interesting to listen too. Of course I was very lost in the plot line due to the fact that I came while they were in the middle of the novel, but it was still fun to sit and listen to such a sweet woman read with passion. As I sat there waiting for my roommate to read, I began to get tired. I couldn’t seem to pay attention to the reading and I was still very lost in what was happening. This event was on a Thursday and I had class the next morning. Although this event seemed like a very great way for people of the community to get involved, it was hard for a lot of college students to attend because it was so long. Attending this event was very interesting and great to see what Penn State does to honor the people in the community that have accomplished many things. Although I feel like it would have been better to do over the weekend, it still was a great idea to try again next year!

In The Red and Brown Water

In The Red and Brown Water, played at the Playhouse Theater, was a very enjoyable and humorous play. The main characters Oya, Mama Moja, Shango, Elegba, Aunt Elegua and Ogun Size narrate and act out the story. It is mainly about Oya’s struggles in finding herself, who she is meant to be with, and what running means to her. Throughout the play she comes across hard times in her life and she is unsure of how to handle them. Oya goes from wanting to run for a school, to staying at home with her mom, and then wanting to build a family but unsure of whom that will be with. In the play each character is also the narrator. This works in the plays favor because it adds a little humor to the somewhat serious plot line. Each character narrates when they are coming into the scene, how they are coming into the scene, and sometimes just their next actions. My favorite part about this performance was the humor and differences between the characters. Each had a unique personality and something that separated them from all the others. I felt as if this was a good balance between the funny and more serious characters. The contrast between Shango and Ogun Size seemed very important in this play because it shows the different types of men that Oya is torn between. She has a hard time deciding if she is in love with the nice businessman, or the handsome army stud. Although Shango is not loyal to her, she still has fallen for him. These scenes where Oya shows her love for Shango makes the audience feel bad for Ogun because he truly is in love with her. In the end, Oya does not find herself and what her purpose is, but I do feel like she has learned something very valuable. The end of the play was very surprising and kind of odd. When looking back at the beginning of the play, the opening scene was foreshadowing the end. I think this play was very interesting, and directed very well. The humor and plot line together created an enjoyable play that all could understand. This was not the first theater play that I have seen. I love watching plays on Broadway and have actually seen a play here on the Penn State Campus from a different group of people. This play was much different then the previous one I saw, but I enjoyed this one much more. The actors in this play were very mature and played their part very well. I felt as if I was watching a play with professional actors.  Going into this play I was concerned it was not going to be entertaining and also concerned that the acting would be like the last show I saw on campus. Right from the beginning the play caught my attention and proved my original accusation to be incorrect. After watching this play, I would love to go back and see more and would recommend this play to others everywhere!