The all-female cast of Cagebirds set to the stage to shock and inspire audiences with a brilliant performance. The Adams theater department produced the allegorical one-act show for Lovefest, an annual event which celebrates theater. The show premiered on February 2 and 3 at Adams for students, faculty, and family before it was performed on February 4 for Lovefest.

The opening scene displays six women living in a locked room, each ruled by their own desires and obsessed on pleasing their Mistress (sophomore Arianna Stephens).  The Mistress acts as their warden while they are imprisoned in the room.

When the Mistress introduces the Wild One (junior Sophia Williams) to the room, unrest spreads among the women. The Wild One preaches freedom, but the women are adamant on remaining secure in their cage. The whirlwind play takes a dramatic turn, resulting in a devastating conclusion.

In the beginning, the play appears to be a comedic twist on vain, bird-like women. As tensions soar, however, audience members are left breathless and on the edge of their seats. Each of the exceptional actresses claiming the stage is wrapped up in her own world, a world where nothing matters other than the subject of her obsession.

Williams enters the stage in a flurry, intent on persuading the women to break through the bars of their cage; however, she has trouble getting through to them. Williams convincingly shifts between compassion and frustration as she attempts to connect with the women, who, at first, seem intent on ignoring her.  She captures the free spirited bird with such passion that the audience is ready to stand up and take up arms against the Mistress.  

Senior Maria Garcia Reyna plays Twitting, the room’s newest member prior to Williams’ arrival. She is also the only woman who the Wild One is able to convince that freedom is worth fighting for.  Gracia illustrates Twitting’s broken sense of insecurity and indecision so perfectly that the crowd can actually feel her being torn apart by her own decisions.

Each character has bird-like qualities and attributions, and each actresses depicts their characters with specific mannerisms or quirks, thus bringing their characters to life in a unique way.  

Senior Sarah Brady buzzes life into Gossip’s scandalous, flaring personality. Guzzler, senior Jordyn Houle, incites cravings with her gluttonous musings and mutterings.  Senior Sydney Mitchell strikes fear in the hearts of the audience with her hypochondriac worries as Gloom.  

Sophomore Valentina Rengifo plays Thump, a woman who inspires fear and oozes authority, and finally sophomore Leighann Heim prances and preens like a pro as Gazer.  Brady and Rengifo were awarded the best actresses of the play by Lovefest.

The women confined within the cage are constantly absorbed in their own world. Only once do they come together: to kill the Wild One and, eventually, Twitting. The tension heightens to an almost unbearable point as they surrounded the defeated women, inevitably taking their lives. Here, the audience was encompassed in a whirlwind of sympathy and horror.

55 minutes was all it took for this amazing cast of women to tear open the audience’s emotions with their vehement performance of this metaphorical play. Between the simplistic setting, elaborate makeup, and glorious acting, nothing that could have been changed in order to improve the wonderful rendition of Cagebirds performed by the Adams theater department.