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The voices of students mimicked siren-like screeches in Coates Hall Wednesday night, as they practiced for their performance of "If Our Desks Could Talk."
Audience members waited anxiously for the communications studies performance to begin. Tallie Flournoy, a communication studies freshman, came to support Cora Leighton, the creator of the show.
"I have know idea what to expect," Flournoy said.
The lights dimmed to complete darkness. Andrew King, communication studies professor, began telling the department's history on a pull-down projection screen. A video showed him speaking to a class.
"I conceived of this idea about a year ago," Leighton said. "One day, I lost some papers behind my desk drawers so I pulled the drawers out and discovered a lot of old texts."
In the department, texts are considered any kind of information, from everyday dialogue to scholarly journals. Leighton found texts behind her desk dating back to 1967. She decided to revolve the performance around them.
Crystal-Lane Swift approached the stage slowly dressed in black. She met with the other performers who were already floating around stage stopping to form angular poses.
"When I was a kid I would tear pages out of books and arrange them in 'messy texts,'" Swift said. "So the show opens with me lining up the pages on stage in a new order."
The show went on to describe the history of the department using repetitive dialogue and overly expressive gestures mixed with black lights, lipstick and playing cards.
Brandon Nicholas proclaimed onstage, "Saying no to no is not the same as saying yes."
Swift then pulled out various items from a mysterious box including tampons, a vibrator, Gas-X and diet pills.
Leighton understands that such actions may seem strange to an average undergraduate.
"I hear a lot of undergrads saying 'I don't get it,'" Leighton said. "That's the point."
Swift attempted to explain the point.
"Performance studies is a way to reconceptualize history in a way that makes it more fun" Swift said.
Sam Sloan, communication studies senior, described Performance studies as different from traditional theory.
"We say 'OK, what's a social issue going on right now?'" Sloan asked. "Then we try to show it instead of talking about it."
The group currently works on the performance since the second day of this semester.
"I love performance," Leighton said. "I was happy for it to finally be out there and to share it with my communities."
The show will take place in the Hopkins Black Box Theatre through Sunday.
----- Contact Kristine Breithaupt at kbreithaupt@lsureveille.com
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