April 23rd, 2023

Directed by theater professor Kenneth Elliott, the hit broadway musical Rent was performed across multiple nights by the Rutgers-Camden theater company just last month. Over the course of two and a half hours, the enormously talented student cast tackled the classic story with grace, wit, and plenty of the rock musical’s signature humor. 

The story opens on Christmas Eve night, when we meet roommates Mark and Roger (played by Andrew Merkle and Cory Ryan Yhap, respectively). Mark has recently been dumped, Roger has recently been diagnosed with HIV, and to top it all off? Their heat has been shut off by their ex-friend-and-roommate-turned-landlord, Benny (played by Andy Amezquita). It’s a bleak introduction to be sure, but the energizing titular number “Rent” serves to hearten the duo while setting the show in motion. 

Rent takes place in Manhattan’s disadvantaged East Village neighborhood in 1989: the tail end of a decade ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Many of the characters, like Roger, are in fact positive for the deadly virus, including the charismatic drag queen, Angel (played brilliantly by Isaiah Dingle), who sadly succumbs to the disease at the climax of the story. It’s a moment that threatens to break the ragtag group of friends, but they trudge on– for Angel as well as for themselves. 

Mimi, a beautiful dancer suffering from drug addiction and her own HIV diagnosis, is played by Vivianna Aviles. Taylor Eccles plays Maureen, Mark’s saucy ex-girlfriend as well as a performance artist and activist, while Chidinma Chukwueke plays her new love, Joanne, a Harvard educated lawyer. Collins, a philosophy professor living with AIDS who falls in love with Angel, is played by Nate Boyle. Other cast members include Paige Bates as Mrs. Jefferson, Nayeli Dejesus as Mark’s mom, and Ethan Santi as Paul. Several members of the cast did overtime playing two or more roles. As for the much lauded musical score, my personal favorites from this performance were the animated “Rent,” the romantic ballad “Light My Candle,” and Mimi’s rocky “Out Tonight.” 

A decades long classic for a reason, Rent bittersweetly retains its relevance as we once again battle the uncertainty of a pandemic along with soaring inflation. The cast’s electrifying energy combined with the excellent live music and set design made for a great atmosphere and, overall, a fun night out. Congratulations to the cast, crew, and Professor Elliott for another great performance from the Rutgers-Camden theater! 

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Too often, women’s literature gets overlooked when we discuss great books, especially when written by queer women and women of color. To (belatedly) celebrate Women’s History Month, and in no particular order, here are some of my favorite books written by women about women: 

1. The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkowski: This is a criminally little known sapphic fantasy set on an isolated and socially stratified island with hidden magic, in which a young woman finally questions everything about the bleak world she knows. This also features a gender queer love interest!
2. Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay: Technically a short essay collection, but a great, quick read. Gay tackles issues like negative representation, fatphobia, abortion rights, and racism with her typical droll wit and good sense.
3. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia : Set outside Mexico City in the 1950s, this is a creeping tale of suspense in the style of Jane Eyre and Rebecca, in which the beautiful socialite Noemi visits her cousins’s crumbling new home under suspicion that the other woman’s husband is trying to kill her. A reckoning on colonialism, colorism, paternalism, and all the horror that comes along with those things.
4. Empire of Wild by Cherie Dimaline: An indigenous woman’s husband vanishes without a trace; a year later, she suddenly sees him again–except he has no idea who she is, and goes by a completely different name. Inspired by stories about the rougarou of indigenous folklore, this book is a perfectly unexpected blend of love story and gooey creature feature. (Dimaline also wrote The Marrow Thieves, which is another great read.)
5. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka: A short but powerful book about a boatful of Japanese ‘picture brides’ who land in America in the early 20th century, Otsuka uses first person plural narration to tell the collective story of these women as they age, love, struggle, and survive. Beautiful and painful in equal measure. 
6. The Worm and His Kings by Hailey Piper: A cosmic horror novella that takes place largely in a sewer in 1990s New York City, featuring a trans woman fighting like Hell through mutated monsters and brainwashed people alike to find her missing girlfriend. 
7. A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera: Adding a little spice to the list, this is an anti-racist, anti-imperialist take on the classic historical romance paperback. Luz Alana is a Dominican rum heiress looking to make a name for herself in the European market, while Evan is the estranged son of a Scottish dukedom he wants nothing to do with. Features marriage of convenience and various hijinks. 
8. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: Whether you’re familiar with the author’s music as Japanese Breakfast or not, Crying in H Mart is a gripping tearjerker of a memoir about love and loss between a Korean-American daughter and her mother.

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The Moors is the most recent play to debut from Rutgers-Camden’s theater program. Directed by Professor Damon Bonetti, the show performed over three nights in early February starred Rutgers students Jennifer Calay, Taylor Eccles, Tia Johnson, Lilli Myers, Jessica Osias, and Ethan Santi. Altogether, the cast and crew did an excellent job in bringing to life this little known but brilliant play, complete with vibrant costuming and gorgeous sets to make the final product visually as well as thematically stunning.

Written by playwright Jen Silverman in 2017, The Moors is a darkly funny, deeply symbolic, and surprisingly queer Gothic tale. The play takes place in what the program describes as “1840s-ish” England, in a house overlooking the titular moors–a setting and mood heavily inspired by the seminal works of the Bronte sisters, of course.

Over the course of a cool hour and a half, The Moors explores themes such as isolation, death, and chronic boredom, and definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. Without spoiling too much (because even if you didn’t get a chance to see it live, I highly recommend seeking it out regardless), I didn’t know who to root for–and I couldn’t have been more thrilled about that ambiguity.

All is not what it seems when the young, bright governess, Emilie (played by Jennifer Calay) arrives at the Branwell home at the behest of the man of the house, under the guise of tutoring his young child. Her correspondence with Mr. Branwell–or who she believed to be Mr. Branwell, anyway–was flirtatious, inviting.

Instead, she meets Mr. Branwell’s toxic two sisters, as well as a sarcastic maid with a seemingly dual identity (played by Tia Johnson). Agatha Branwell (played by Jessica Osias) is cold and ruthless, while her sister, Huldey (played by Lili Myers), is a desperately lonely airhead. Lurking in the corners of the house, a lumbering pet mastiff with problems of his own (played by Ethan Santi). What, exactly, is this family hiding? And where is Mr. Branwell? 

Calay makes for a brilliant governess, who starts out bright eyed and bushy tailed but grows gradually wearier and more suspicious of her gloomy surroundings as the play progresses. Johnson is fantastic and bitingly funny as the dry, scheming maid whose name is either Marjory or Mallory, depending on when you ask. Osias is almost too good in her brutal portrayal of the cold and efficient Agatha.

Meanwhile, Myers steals the show as the easy-to-manipulate younger sister, surprising us all with a rocky musical number at the end–the cherry on top of her hurried descent into madness. Not to be outdone, Santi and Eccles shine in their roles as the earnest family pooch and the anxious moorhen he befriends, respectively, each with their own existential crises and period typical pessimism to contend with. Not even the animals are safe! Despite the brief hour and a half runtime, the story played out with plenty of care and attention to each of the complex characters and the increasingly heart-pounding plot. Well done!

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By: Rory Ott

On December 6th, union action at all three Rutgers campuses cemented the various frustrations that faculty and staff, as well as supporting students, have had with university leadership for several months now. Rainy weather notwithstanding, hundreds of faculty, staff, and students across New Jersey stood outside to protest the administration’s inadequate response to issues such as raises, contracts, and benefits. 

Recently, I sat down with Dr. Jim Brown, a professor of English and Digital Studies at Rutgers-Camden, as well as the head of the Camden chapter of the RU faculty union. One of the main concerns, he told me, is that hundreds of faculty and staff have been working since this summer without contracts–including graduate workers, who already don’t make what’s considered a living wage. “We’ve put forth a number of proposals to management and either hasn’t heard back or when we have heard back, they’ve struck down the language we’d proposed and said no.” This past Tuesday’s action marked the first the union has heard back since July regarding proposed raises. 

School administrations across the country (including at The New School, a notable, private university in New York City) are currently reckoning with grievances held by faculty and other staff regarding these issues and more. With Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases continuing to wreak havoc into the winter months, inflation and price gouging are at a record high. Dr. Brown condemns the two-percent annual raise now proposed to Rutgers faculty and staff–it’s simply not enough to combat normal yearly inflation, let alone during a pandemic when in-person work is also a health and safety consideration. With all of this in mind, many schools have gone on strike–Rutgers could be the latest to join the fold if the response continues to be abysmal. 

One of the proposals that haven’t yet been responded to concerns equity for adjunct faculty. Adjunct and full-time faculty do share a union, but they currently have different contracts, creating a significant split in negotiating power. “What we want is basically all faculty across the entire Rutgers system, with very few exceptions, in one union, under one contract, so that we can all bargain together. Right now we’re sort of carved up.” For some reason, full-time faculty and graduate workers are in one contract, while part-time faculty and post-doctoral fellows each have their own. Over the years, administration has been consistently against a united faculty in this sense.

Student involvement is heavily encouraged, as grievances also lie with the general facilities at Rutgers-Camden; budget cuts and poor infrastructure affect everyone, especially those living on campus. Many have pointed out the stark differences between Camden and New Brunswick, for example; Camden may be a smaller, more intimate campus, but that doesn’t mean we’re undeserving of the same quality infrastructure.“We’re trying to get the administration to live up to some of the rhetoric that we’re a beloved community, that we’re all part of one big Rutgers.” In addition, faculty and staff are aware of how a potential strike after the New Year impacts students. Therefore, everyone across RU—students, faculty, and staff—should advocate for each other as much as possible for change that benefits all. Anyone that has further questions, especially about how to get involved, should contact Dr. Brown at jim.brown@rutgers.edu.

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By: Rory Ott

Local Audubon’s NJ’s Merchant Street has had quite the upswing in the past few years, miraculously bouncing back from a pandemic notorious for ravaging small businesses. The most recent addition to the small town’s quiet main strip is Sunpress, a Latin-themed, fast-casual dining experience offering a wide variety of dishes including burritos, tacos, Cuban sandwiches, and freshly squeezed juice. Eager to interrupt the banality of chain restaurants like Chipotle and a  long-time resident of Audubon myself, I knew I had to check it out, and Sunpress did not disappoint. 

Vibrant decor greeted us when we walked in: bright yellow tables, walls decorated with various plants and artwork, and light panels reworked to look like a blue sky above. The rainy evening outside didn’t stand a chance. We felt welcomed immediately, especially when Dar Soleymani–co-owner along with his wife, Elsie–came out to greet us with a huge, friendly smile on his face. Their family is well-versed in the business of food; his daughter, Sahar, owns two specialty restaurants along Haddon Ave (Dar’s Steaks and Que Ricas), and they have a collective forty years’ worth of experience. 

Intrigued, I ordered the Rincon burrito with chicken. It has most of the usual, gooey fixings you expect from a burrito, with the fun addition of hot Cheetos—and it was grilled, too, making it extra delicious. I wolfed it down, enjoying the crunchy contrast of the Cheetos next to the meat, beans, and cheese. Dar told us he’s traveled all over Latin America and has since been inspired by the cuisine of Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua, and more; the loving attention to detail is evident. Interestingly, his daughter is also a chemist, helping to perfect the many unique flavor combinations on Sunpress’s menu down to a literal science.

Those with dietary restrictions are easily accommodated, as well, with allowances for gluten-free, vegetarian, and even vegan diets (but be warned: the Cuban bread is made with lard, a no-go for vegans and vegetarians no matter how tasty). Most importantly, the food at Sunpress is filling, delicious, and reasonably priced. Squeeze in a side of ceviche or key lime pie for dessert, if you dare–you certainly won’t regret it. Much can be said about the cozy ambiance, as well, and the friendliness of both owner and staff. We’re so used to getting our food delivered, or picking it up and immediately heading back home, that I think we forget the reassurance of a good atmosphere.

The Soleymani family brings with them a warm, personal touch. Along with LesbiVeggies and Burger Time, two other unique restaurants closely neighboring Sunpress, Audubonites, and others in the area now have a great selection to curate from. I highly recommend ordering a smorgasbord of comfort food from any (or all three) before crossing the street to Red, White, and Brew for craft beers and hard seltzers. 

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By: Rory Ott

Barbarian, writer-director Zach Cregger’s first horror credit after spending much of his career in comedy, is a squeamish and refreshing cult classic in the making. Beware of mild spoilers ahead.

I planted myself in the theater expecting a more traditional horror film, albeit with a modern twist. A savvy young woman named Tess (Georgina Campbell) arrives—alone–at an Airbnb in a seemingly innocuous neighborhood in Detroit, only to discover that it’s been double booked by mistake.

Her unlikely roommate, Keith, seems earnest, if awkward, yet anyone familiar with the genre can’t help but be suspicious; Bill Skarsgård is best known for playing the titular clown from It (2016), as well as starring in more obscure horror roles in Hemlock Grove, Villains, and Castle Rock—a notorious filmography, to be sure. Campbell’s credits include titles like Broadchurch, Flowers, and Krypton; this is her first real foray into horror, but she has undeniable “final girl” energy. 

The first act instills a brilliant sense of dread, from the heart-pounding score to Tess’s slow realization that she got herself into something very, very bad. You don’t need to suspend your disbelief for the seemingly dubious premise; Barbarian is self-aware, and so is she. After all, the movie sprung from a thought Cregger had about women ignoring their subconscious red flags, a short film idea that snowballed into this beautiful monster of a sleeper hit.

Tess’s first big clue is when she wakes up the morning after she arrives, running late for a job interview, and realizes that every home in the neighborhood is condemned except for her cute little Airbnb. It was raining hard the night before, obscuring for her the unseemly aspects of the homes and equally derelict cars lining the street. It’s a cold jolt of a moment, proof that scenes in the daytime (an idea most recently posited in Ari Aster’s bright, cruel Midsommar) can scare the crap out of an audience, too, and it’s smart as hell.

Cregger shows his love for the classic horror tropes—there are plenty of ‘Don’t go down there!’ moments to chill your blood, and plenty of jump scares to get your heart racing. Still, he could (and should, he really should) easily establish himself with more daring, experimental creators like Ari Aster and Jordan Peele. Good horror should have a bite of social commentary to it, and this one has plenty as an unexpected reckoning on both toxic masculinity and rape culture. Barbarian is damn good, it’s fresh, and it’s shocking.

Trust me: you are not prepared for where this movie will take you. In a season usually saturated with cheap thrills like Annabelle and whatever number the long-winded Halloween franchise is on now, this one is a much-needed kick in the teeth. Worth the ticket, bucket of popcorn, and large Coke—just make sure you bring a friend, someone you can whisper ‘What the ****?’ to several times throughout. 4.5/5

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