USI presented “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” at the Performance Center Nov. 16-9. It is a revenge comedy play written by Lauren Gunderson, playwright, screenwriter and short story author, and directed by Joshua Robinson, assistant professor of musical theatre. The production follows Nan Carter (Chloe Kummer), who marries Kyle Carter (Gavin Carter) at a young age and takes out all of her frustration on Kyle for abusing her.
This production follows “Dracula,” which premiered Oct. 12-15, as the second theater production of the academic year. Unlike “Dracula,” this story takes place in one location, a small, musty one-bedroom house in the North Georgia Mountains.
The play begins with Kyle duct-taped to the recliner couch chair. I wasn’t expecting the play to abruptly start in the middle of the action and found the plot to be tension-filled instantly, which I thought was impressive. The plays I’ve seen in the past tend to build up tension throughout. Nan and her newfound friend Sweetheart (LillyBea Ireland) then tell Kyle, as he fades in and out of consciousness, they are going to reenact Kyle’s aggressions towards Nan to make him realize what he has done. I found this concept of a play within a play to be interesting because it’s humorous, and to execute that concept well with a serious topic makes the production stand out.
Flashbacks show their first interactions and dates where Kyle was seemingly a good guy. However, by the start of the play, he has become a husband “unaware” of his abusive actions.
At the beginning, it’s revealed that Kyle forced Nan to butcher a deer for dinner despite her being an animal lover and working at a veterinary clinic. I found this part of the play to be disheartening, and would likely build strong sympathy for Nan from the audience. Also, at first, Kyle claims he has never hit Nan.
Throughout the production, Nan quotes Jimmy Carter several times in reference to life and how people should act, which I found to be a unique and interesting aspect of the play. I also found it engaging that the production used the TV on stage for specific moments. One of these moments was Susan Boyle’s performance of singing “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Misérables” on “Britain’s Got Talent” that Nan, Sweetheart and Simon are all fond of, and Kyle appears to be annoyed by.
The TV on stage was also used for Sweetheart’s PowerPoint presentation on black bears and for the ending when Nan does an interview for CNN. Sweetheart’s PowerPoint on black bears, where she talked about black bear facts and how they have the ability to attack humans, was one of the most comedic moments of the production. I found this part of the play hilarious because of how the lights dimmed to only have light on Sweetheart and how quickly she jumped into presenting the slides.
Surrounding Kyle with vermin and covering him with honey to attract black bears to maul him is a part of Nan, Sweetheart and Nan’s best friend Simon Beaufort’s (Ethan Hoover) revenge plan. Along with the abuse Kyle does to Nan, it’s revealed towards the end of the play that he also tried to cheat on Nan with Sweetheart at the strip club Sweetheart works at. While Kyle tries to manipulate Nan into letting him go free several times throughout the play, toward the end he begins to feel ashamed and apologetic for his actions. I found this part of the play to likely build more understanding of Kyle from the audience but not so much so that his character and actions can be forgotten.
However, his small start to a change in character is too late, and Nan follows through with her original revenge plan but leaves a phone in Kyle’s hand for him to call the police. The play also ends with a karaoke epilogue from Nan, Sweetheart and Simon singing the song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship and an interview Nan does on CNN. Even with the likely death of Kyle, I enjoyed this upbeat and light-hearted ending.
Sweetheart and Simon’s costumes were more distinctive than Nan and Kyle’s. Sweetheart wore American flag scrunchies in her hair, an American flag crop top and a crop top flannel. Simon wore a cheerleader outfit and carried around a sparkly red pom pom. In contrast, I think the costumes Nan and Kyle wore were fitting to what a small-town family in America would wear. Nan wore a floral top and a cardigan. Kyle wore a camouflage hat, jacket and boots. I also found the set design to well represent a small town home with it being a one-bedroom, the brown and neutral color scheme and a taxidermy deer on the wall.
The acting done by Chloe Kummer, LillyBea Ireland, Ethan Hoover and Gavin Carter in this play was impressive. Kummer’s portrayal of Nan Carter built a lot of compassion and understanding towards Nan and disappointment and anger towards Kyle. Carter’s depiction of Kyle was strong in representing the privilege of men over women in society and how they can abuse that power.
Ireland’s representation of Sweetheart was good in the supportive newfound friend trope but with a twist. She agrees to help her friend lure bears to attack her friend’s abusive husband. Hoover’s portrayal of the supportive best friend was solid in building part of Nan’s past and how she came to be in this bad situation. Both of the friend character portrayals were strong in showcasing how far encouraging and protective friendships can go, in good and in extreme ways.
I found this play to be very comedic, which I wasn’t expecting considering the content of abuse in the production. Also, before watching the play, I think I would have been more likely to assume Nan was at least a little crazy.
Yet, I think this play does a great job of making the audience think about how society treats abuse victims and helps the audience understand how many victims get pushed over the edge from the hurt and pain they’re dealing with. It didn’t take long for the play to convince me Nan’s frustration was valid and her actions were understandable by displaying her situation and her character, Simon and Sweetheart’s support of and care for her and Kyle’s manipulation and abuse. I enjoyed watching USI Theatre’s comedic, unique and important production of “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” and am interested in seeing more of their productions in the future.
