By: Sherlyn Ong

The scent of cigarettes. The sound of silence. The utter of simple, deep words. The heartbreak of the story.

The Aliens was truly a multi-sensorysensual experience. As director and senior Alejandra Navarro had previously mentioned, The Aliens was indeed a very realistic play. It opens with Jasper and KJ sitting rather quietly for a while. A long while. It is interesting way to open a show because this is something you’d expect in real life and not in the setting of a play, where it seems like action should always be occurring. The conversations and tone of voice were all essentially real-life conversations that were occurring in front of the audience. Furthermore, although the smell of smoke from the cigarettes was slightly unpleasant, it was an excellent sensory tool because it allowed the audience to fully experience an aspect of the show and almost feel like they were with them at the moment.

The actors, seniors Eric Oden (Jasper) and Noah Kopit (KJ) along with sophomore Kolton Noreen (Evan) did an amazing job in the portrayal of their characters. All of them presented a unique character while successfully maintaining the realistic aspect of the play. Their performances were incredibly convincing and they served as a great foil for each other. The emotions conveyed were so compelling that I found myself heartbroken when I saw KJ (Kopit) unravelling upon the reveal of Jasper’s (Oden) death.

I also liked the detail that was put into this play. The time period seemed to be situated between the 80s and the early 2000s, and I thought that the fact that the characters were not using smartphones but flip phones was definitely some intricate detail. This also ties back to Navarro’s point about how this play allows the audience to remember and reflect on the times where human interaction was much more significant–a time where we were not as distracted with our phones. To me, it was refreshing to see people hanging out with each other without such distractions.

Another awesome part of the show was the lights. Everything was really well timed and well done for the entirety of the play. The lights sequence that opened the show and simulated fireworks were incredible. I was very impressed with the lights and how certain cues corresponded so well with lines and scenes.

All in all, The Aliens was a polished performance with an awesome cast and crew that came together to present an unforgettable experience for the audience. Kudos all around.