The Creative Thoughts club presented “The Game of Life, A Choose Your Own Adventure Play” on Sept. 19 and 20 in the Wilkinson Student Center.
As the audience entered the Varsity Theater, they were invited to choose between participating in the production as a third-party spectator or an actual character in the program.
In the first act, characters from the audience read scripts written by members of the Creative Thoughts club, which discussed profound concepts such as justice, community, enduring hardships with discipline and faith and the meaning of life itself.
Fundamental moments of life were displayed such as birth, making friends, graduating high school, falling in love, creating a family and the inevitable moment when the great game of life comes to an end.
Scenes were selected for performance based on the rolling of large dice and the progression of a small paper car that moved along the large game board onstage.
Just before intermission, Daisy, the main character played in Friday night's performance by audience member Sarah Horlacher, was given the chance to decide whether to continue into the second act or take a bow and watch her family and friends continue the game of life without her presence on stage.
She chose to continue, and the second act was entirely improvisation by her and the other audience-selected characters. It included an open mic portion at Daisy’s funeral where both spectators and cast members were invited to the stage to share what they had learned from Daisy’s life.
Audience members who participated in the play learned important lessons about the purpose of their life.
“I think life is about the journey and the friends you make along the way," Shane Rispress, an audience participant, said. "I think that’s kind of like a central theme that I am picking up. It’s not about a final destination.”
Horlacher spoke on how the spectators related to her character in the play.
“I think because [the spectators] know I’m just figuring it out, we’re all just on this little journey together and it feels more like a group experience than me up there by myself," she said. "It’s super fun.”
Those who watched the performance also learned from the morals of the story.
“It really is about life. It’s a lot deeper than I thought and the writing is … very reflective on what life can be,” Madeline O’Neil, a viewing audience member, said.
Holland Allebes Anderson, Creative Thoughts club president, came up with the idea for the play while lying in bed, pondering her frustration with a growing trend of “living life on the surface.”
“For this play we wanted to … help people see that vision of living intentionally and having a deeper insight into life to make the most of it,” Anderson said. “I hope that people walk away inspired to feel a greater sense of agency in their life to live with intention and direction and clarity.”
Students who want to participate in the club are invited to join the weekly meetings held on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. in the Wilkinson Center.
“To come to the club, it’s very open space, there’s no kind of tension of feeling like you have to say something right or something smart so it creates a space that can be really creative,” Anderson said. “That’s why it’s called the ‘Creative Thoughts’ club, because we want people to be able to really develop ideas.”