Anthony Aston Players’ ‘Boys Next Door’ lands in Ring Theater
By Tom Clark
Assistant News Editor

Four men living together in a state-run apartment for the mentally handicapped are sure to have a crazy lifestyle, which provides the perfect situation for a comedy that is meant not only to entertain an audience, but also to deliver an important message about care and acceptance.

Tom Griffin’s The Boys Next Door, the second Anthony Aston production this semester, opened at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 27 and runs through Dec. 1 in the Ring Theater. In her directorial debut, Anthony Aston president Hillary Heard leads her cast and crew in a hilariously entertaining production that still manages to stun the audience with a powerful message.

Perhaps the most impressive element of the play is the skill with which the four mentally handicapped men are played. Although undertaking very challenging roles, freshman Scotty Candler and seniors Lee Briggs, Mike Albanese and Matt Johnson quickly convince the audience that they indeed have mental problems. Candler and Briggs are especially effective in portraying their characters through their speech and physical mannerisms, which remarkably resemble those of actual neurotic and mentally retarded people.

The severity of each man’s disability is somewhat unclear throughout the first few scenes, but is soon clarified by the apartment supervisor, Jack, played by senior Erin Wade. Wade delivers another stellar performance as the social worker overseeing the apartment, which is refreshingly different from her last lead earlier this fall as an emotionally unstable wife in The House of Blue Leaves.

Although the character of Jack is slightly ambiguous in this production since the role was originally written as a male part, Wade pulls it off very successfully and the audience ignores her unusual name.

The first act sets the humorous tone of the play with several wild antics that the audience can’t help but laugh at. The second act maintains this sense of comedy, but also captures the audience’s empathy by adding a more tragic element to the play.
The audience is often awestruck by the powerful action and dialogue on stage, especially in one intense scene between the schizophrenic Barry (played by Albanese) and his bitter father, junior Joey Mertes, who views his son as weak for living with the “retards.”

From a more technical aspect, The Boys Next Door is presented very well, manipulating the space in the Ring Theater to fit several different locations into the world of the play. Different light designs and sound effects creatively allow the actors to move the setting out of the apartment without ever changing the scenery. Also, the quirky, eccentric costumes of all the mentally disabled characters set them apart from the rest of the world, further emphasizing their differences to the audience.
In a time when acceptance and care are crucial to a functional world, this play helps remind us of such important details. Incredible talent, a great storyline and a powerful message are what make the Anthony Aston production of The Boys Next Door such an entertaining and captivating play.