Crystal Sain (center left), Connor George (center right) and chorus members Ian Von Pechmann and Derek Hernandez rehearse a scene during a dress rehearsal on Feb. 15, 2024. (Courtesy of RGDPhoto)
CU Presents will showcase Naomi Iizuka’s “Anon(ymous),” a modern retelling of Homer’s “Odyssey,” inside the compact top-floor Loft Theater at the University of Colorado Boulder through Feb. 25. The play presents the harrowing journey of a young refugee, Anon, in his struggle to navigate a hostile, xenophobic modern world and reunite with his mother.
The show’s unique staging adds a significant dimension to its personal, deeply tense narrative. The Loft Theater is a single room, painted black, with large columns throughout and no traditional stage to perform upon. The audience sits instead in rows situated in a circle and facing inward, separated slightly so that actors can pass through them and walk about the room freely. The intimate setting gives the unique impression that the audience is witnessing each event by accident, hiding in the shadows and unable to come to the characters’ aid as they are chased, harassed and tossed aside.
Kenneth Varela-Amaya, the actor for Anon, stands beneath a spotlight during a dress rehearsal on Feb. 15, 2024. (RGDPhoto)
“The most unique part about this show is how interactive it is,” said Kenneth Varela-Amaya, who plays Anon. “Anywhere you sit, you get a different story.”
The immersive play causes the audience to witness firsthand the unimaginable horrors and small joys of life as an anonymous refugee in America: sweatshop labor, human trafficking and homelessness, alongside the kindness of strangers, the intense catharsis of poetic justice and personal revenge against the subjugative system.
“My character is someone that has been a refugee for a long time, has been surviving on his own for a long time, and therefore is very battle-hardened, very tragic,” said Jovan Dotson, the actor for Pascal, a fellow immigrant who leads Anon through the first part of his journey. “This is an impactful story.”
Despite its ties to ancient Greek theater, the play’s story and themes of searching for home, belonging and family are both timeless and painfully current.
“I would describe it as the journey of being misplaced,” said Kyra MacGregor, the show’s assistant stage manager. “It’s the Greek “Odyssey” for America, and it’s the journey of the hardships of America’s immigrants.”
“Anon(ymous)” will run Feb. 16-25 in the Loft Theatre. Tickets are $20 and CU Boulder students can get discounted tickets. More information can be found here.
Contact CU Independent Arts and Entertainment Editor Grace Ptak at Grace.Ptak@colorado.edu.
