The Empty Space hosted David Hare’s adaptation of “The Blue Room,” which is a controversial play based around sex with a message.
Performances were held on the nights of Aug. 27-28 and Sept. 3-4.
Michelle Guerrero, of Bakersfield, directed the play and hoped the audience received the right message.
“I don’t like doing things for shock value, but I try to keep things to a minimum. I wanted them to come for the message in the play, which is to make sure that you’re doing things for the right reasons.”
She added, “There’s an underlying social commentary in the play that says, ‘While you need to live your life, be careful of what you do in it and the people that you hurt if you’re using them for your own benefit – they’re still going to be left alone and hurt at the end.’ I hope they got that.”
Guerrero talked about the editing she did with the original play.
“The original ran about two and a half hours. we had to update it and Americanize and take out a lot of the long ramblings. So there was a lot of editing with it.”
She added, “The original script had always been one of my favorites but reading it is a lot different than seeing it on stage and when the cast started reading it on stage during rehearsals, [I thought] ‘People are going to be so bored to sit here for two hours,’ so I sat down one night and revised it and the cast ran with it.”
Guerrero explained how doing a live show with nudity is difficult and how the nudity she used was for the benefit of the play.
“It’s a fine line with live theater and nudity. Some people put it in for the comic value of it.
That’s actually why Billie Joe Fox (Maltre D) was one of the only people that were nude in the show because him and Kelly Christopherson (French Maid) were the comic relief in very serious parts.”
Guerrero moved from Bakersfield and recently returned to direct again.
“This is my first play in 10 years that I directed. I am a Bakersfield native, and then I moved to Colorado for nine years.”
Guerrero said that she had kids while in Colorado and she said, “I came back and I got back into [directing].”
She added about her previous experience in Bakersfield, “I directed shows at [the Bakersfield Community Theatre] and Stone Soup in the past.”
A two-year actor, Angela Hanwalt, who played the Au Pair, Marie, talked about how she got involved with the play.
“It sounded like a show I would really be into, so I auditioned for it.”She added that rehearsals went long and having a day job affected her schedule.
“It is definitely tiring being here until one or two in morning and then going into work at nine in the morning . the last couple of weeks are always a little more hectic leading up to the play.”
In her acting debut, Deanna Moreno, who portrayed the model, “Kelly,” mentioned how she was able to change her shyness through the play.
“It was good for me to break out of my shell – it’s my first show.” She added, “I feel really good with this – it just makes me feel happy.”
Mike Bedard, who portrayed the student Anton, has been acting since 2005 and mentioned how he heard about the play.
“I got an event notice on Facebook and in the event description it said that the original version of this play was banned in Europe in the early 1900s so I said, ‘I got to do this play, it sounds awesome,’ so I just auditioned and got the part.”
Bedard hoped the play was recognized with a message.
“I hope they obviously enjoy and react to it – that they find parallels in their lives to what is happening on stage and hopefully get an emotional response toward it.”
Nathan Stratton, who portrayed the cab driver, Fred, talked about the message the play was attempting to give to the audience.
“I hope they understand the point that we’re trying to bring because it’s not just a play about people having sex – it’s a play about people looking for love in all the wrong places and are scared of being alone for the rest of their lives.”