Director's Note
I love this play, THE VERY GREY MATTER OF EDWARD BLANK, because I do deeply relate to Edward. While I am not a person with schizophrenia, I am a person who lives with two chronic, life-altering invisible illnesses. There are days when I am trapped, like Edward, because I cannot move my body. There are days, like Edward, when I am trapped by the burden I feel like I am to the world. There are days, like Edward, where I do not remember who I am because migraines take over my brain. There I are days, like Edward, when I do not know what is better, the pain of the outside world or the pain of being so utterly alone. I love this play because it puts an invisible person on stage with all the complexities that come with being invisibly ill.
Often, I find there is pressure to tell a story “correctly”. But what does “correct” even mean? Edward’s journey is his and his alone. It is not mine and it is not yours, so who is to say what it looks like? I think there is laughter and cookyness and sadness and joy and yes, delusion. But what traumatic story is not filled with delusion? What trauma is seen the same way through everyone’s eyes? That is why I love this play, because it does not bother itself with what is “correct”, but rather what is true to Edward; and in Edward’s truth, I have been able to sort through my own. And I can only hope that whatever your truth is in relation to invisible illnesses, you can find yours too.
** Denotes a person who is holding this role for this first time on campus. That will be 94% of the cast and production team! We are very proud of this and wanted to share that fact.
Cast
**Jared Son -- Edward Blank
**Charlotte Jones -- Bubak
**Anelga Hajjar -- Mrs. Timonel
**Jack Owen -- Mr. Net
**Natalie Bartolomei -- Miss Twist
Libby Hatton - - Voice
**Charlotte Jones -- Bubak
**Anelga Hajjar -- Mrs. Timonel
**Jack Owen -- Mr. Net
**Natalie Bartolomei -- Miss Twist
Libby Hatton - - Voice
Production Team
Producer -- Alanna Ramquist**
Director -- Hailey Brunson**
Assistant Director -- Nena Martins**
Stage Manager -- Luke Hunter**
Set and Props Design -- Koji Taylor**
Lighting Design -- Jack Meynardie**
Sound Design -- Kate Feldstein**
Composition -- Lily Liu**
Costume and Hair and Makeup Design -- Kandace Mack**
Marketing Director -- Hannah McGrath
Photographer -- Rishi Mahesh**
Director -- Hailey Brunson**
Assistant Director -- Nena Martins**
Stage Manager -- Luke Hunter**
Set and Props Design -- Koji Taylor**
Lighting Design -- Jack Meynardie**
Sound Design -- Kate Feldstein**
Composition -- Lily Liu**
Costume and Hair and Makeup Design -- Kandace Mack**
Marketing Director -- Hannah McGrath
Photographer -- Rishi Mahesh**
Special Thanks
Sit and Spin, GPhi, PA 46, PA 43, Sydney, Elijah, Ruchir, Emily, Amy, Kamilla, Saya, Christie, Emily L., Jasmine, Madi, Momma, Dad, Dima and Dad-Dad, CARTER L., My PERFECT Subletters, Southwest Airlines, Charlotte's dance moves, Wirtz, China, The Box Office and the people that work there, The Carlson Building, 1616 parking lot, Amazon (i hate that I need to thank them they just have everything...), Sarah and Maggie and FB Messenger, NOT the Carlson Stairs, CINDY GOLD, meal prep, EVERY ANGEL ON THIS PRODUCTION, Tom from Home Depot Chris Wych, Wirtz Center Properties Supervisor, Giselle Chow, ALANNA AND HAILEY THE LOVES OF MY LIFE, Canva Pro, the plaza elite, everyone I annoyed by showing my graphics to, the cast's beautiful floating heads, My Mom for always being there, My Dad for making me laugh and reminding me of the simple things, My Friends for cheering me up and chilling me out at ANY time, The cast for being so wonderful and fun, the team for all the hard work they put into the show without seeming too stressed, and most of all, Hailey Frickin Brunson for being the most fun, intelligent, and inspiring director anyone could ever ask for!, Josephine Berler, Mun, Bret Rifkin, and everyone who was huge for the program!, Chris Caputo, Atharva Kharkar <3, FYDTC, Thiccums, The vending machine cupcakes, Luke for giving us our deserved ten!!, warm up games that do not confuse us, our 15 jumping jacks and 20 second planks, NENA for being AMAZING, 25live, my parents, Lily’s beautifully creepy music, Norris food options, Koj Koj for building a beautiful set, Hailey for having a creative and committed vision that she pursued with a vibrant passion, I’d like to thank my family for supporting me from miles away, Anelga for helping me figure out the vending machine, Charlotte for being great company under the sheets, Jack for serenading us all with his saxophone, Jared for letting me mess with his hair, Nena for being perfect, Lily for her mind-invading music, Alanna for her smile and Luke for his many accents. Most of all, I’d like to thank Hailey for believing, leading, creating and inspiring, Hailey for being and idol and getting me keyboard everyday! Alanna for making me feel so welcomed and at home! Our actors and Nena for flattering me by humming to my songs! Kate for saving me out of my writer's block! Luke for letting me know my schedule and for all the hard work. Koji and Jack for rendering the world of the play so beautifully on stage, Jill Nagle, Nicole Hoppe, Heather Basarab, Dan Friedman, Pat Fries, and Ben Jouras, CURT from Home Depot, the guy at the Norris desk who gave me scissors, Valerie Tu for simply being amazing, "huge for the program", Mitchell!!!!!!, NOT the new saferide, CARTER CARTER CARTER!, Hailey for asking me to produce this shindig, China and <3Shlomo<3, a prod team full of beautiful angels, HAILEY BRUNSON, every emotion possible, and Kate's incredible sound design skills, the love of my life, Benji Solomon, the inSTALLments gang, sleep deprivation, floppy disks, UberEats drivers, Michael Strublé, LASIK, Jared Zvonar, Thank you Hailey for being the best director I could imagine! Your creativity and hardwork are contagious and I learnt so much from you. So happy I got to work with you and be your friend, you are awesome! Thank you to the cast for being so incredibly talented and so fun to be around. I am going to miss spending hours and hours everyday locked in a small Wirtz room with you. Thank you to all the crew and everyone who helped with this show for helping create the beautiful world of this play. It was a pleasure to see it all come to life!, I would like to thank the amazing team that has been behind the production of this play. Hailey Brunson, Nena Martins, Alanna Ramquist, and Luke Hunter have been an absolutely fabulous team during this entire process. My co-stars Charlotte Jones, Anelga Hajjar, Natalie Bartolomei, Jack Owen, and Libby Hatton are all such fun and amazing human beings and I love working with them. I would also like thank Kate Feldstein, Koji Taylor, Kandace Mack, Rishi Mahesh, Hannah McGrath, Lily Liu and John Meynardie for helping create the world for such a beautiful show. I'm so glad that we had such a great process. Hope to work with these people again in the future!, Thanks to the incredible cast and crew and especially Nena Martins who has coached and directed and put up with me and my low blood sugar immensely well throughout this entire process!! Also My MOM and DAD <3 <3 and all the transfers out there!