Lively 'Planet' Champions Compassion

Jake Cole and Blake Morris in a Daily Eastern News photo.

By Dan Hagen

Eastern Illinois University’s “Lonely Planet” is a showcase for the considerable and well-matched talents of two actors, Jake Cole and Blake Morris, who play urban gay men at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Steven Dietz’s play, ably directly by Kevin Doolen, is about how a person should respond to a crisis that threatens all around him — by hiding in safety, or by reaching out in compassion. The point is made with clever byplay and symbolism — a map shop as a metaphor of an orderly microcosm, chairs as the ghostly remnants of the people who sat in them.

As Carl, Cole blows through Morris’s sedate map shop like a whirlwind, literally smashing the door open at one point. He feints, charms and cajoles, and even the breezy lies he tells about his occupation turn out to have a poignant point.

As Jody, Morris hides his fear beneath an engagingly winsome surface. His soliloquies are fascinating, whether he’s cheerfully explaining the nuances of cartography or revealing his anguish in dreams. And no matter how close you sit to the stage, you won’t catch a single emotionally false note in either actor.

The heavy topic is illuminated by plenty of lighter moments. An extended stage combat scene, for which the actors were professionally trained, is a fluid marvel of mock derring-do.

Jake Cole Shines in the Darkness of 'Macbeth'

Jake Cole as Macbeth. Photo by Seth Schroeder for the Daily Eastern News.

Macbeth faces his fate.

Let us speak freely, our hearts each to the other. I have to tell you how excellent Jake Cole was as Macbeth at Eastern Illinois University — scornful, graceful, with an intelligible veneer of Scots accent and his naturalistic acting style easily illuminating the meaning of the arcane text for an audience unfamiliar with Shakespeare. He brought dark drama, madness and even humor to the role.

I should also mention the way Jake effortlessly springs onto the stage at one point in a standing jump — a purely theatrical touch, made possible by his athleticism, which prompts a satisfying gasp from the audience. Bravo.

And to our Sean Copeland too, with an amusing drunken turn as Lennox.

The play also contains one of my favorite lines: "Receive what cheer you may. The night is long that never finds the day."

Love Surreal

Jake Cole and Leah David in "Almost, Maine." Daily Eastern News photo by Zachary White.

Last night, Matt and I took in the EIU Theatre Department’s Almost, Maine, a romantic comedy written by John Cariani and directed by Jenni Passig. It’s a series of variety show-like vignettes about love, but smarter than a sitcom with interesting surreal aspects — love can be a physical object, people can literally fall in love, and so forth.

A solid cast — especially with accomplished performances from Jake Cole and Benjamin Kennedy — made for an evening of brisk fun.
Matt Mattingly chimes in: "Almost, Maine" performed by EIU students at Doudna was quite the show. Funny and moving, the segmented production looked at love from damn near every fathomable angle: from struggling to tell a friend one's true romantic feelings, waffling on the "Big Question" for too long only to find the questioner has moved on, finding out the ex you still love is engaged, to the painful mutual realization your relationship is loveless...it was hard not to find something to which you could relate. 
That couldn't be done effectively if that cast didn't perform effectively but by and large, those kids were brilliant. 
Bravo.