Marvin’s Room Review by: Brett Briggeman

The Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) Department of Theatre has returned, putting on a play that encompasses the unknown of our lives and reminds us that life is full of ups and downs.

Marvin’s Room is the Winner of the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Play and the John Gassner Award for Best New American Play. Written by Scott McPherson, this tender and funny play is about family, love, resentment, healing, dying and living. The show follows estranged sisters Lee and Bessie as they confront a family crisis and navigate loss. At its heart, Marvin’s Room asks, ‘What good can we do with the time we have been given?’

The show is directed by Dr. Victoria Spangler, associate professor of Theatre and Artistic Director for the HSU Department of Theatre, with the rest of the show being completely designed by students. “Set Design, Lighting Design, Costume Design, Hair and Makeup Design, Sound Design, Properties Design, all done by students,” Dr. Spangler said. “This play will also be our entry in the Christian University Theatre Festival (CUTF), which will be held on the HSU campus March 2, 3 and 4. CUTF is a theatre festival where Theatre students from HSU, McMurry University, Lubbock Christian University and Howard Payne University come together for three days of performances and workshops. It will be open to the public, and the list of shows will be available as we get closer to the festival.”

“Marvin’s Room centers on caregiving and responsibility and decisions and family love, and also family obligation,” Dr. Spangler said. “Many of the characters avoid directly expressing their feelings, just like real people, especially family members, often do.”

Marvin’s Room is a drama, having both serious and humorous aspects.

“The events faced by the characters do not seem funny at all, but that’s what makes it so real.” Dr. Spangler said. “Laughter enables us to persevere and gets us through some very dark nights.

Dr. Spangler commented on how this play mirrors real life, having no true happy ending or resolution, leaving it up to the audience to decide on their own what happens after the curtains close.

“The play does not have a neat or tidy resolution, and that is important to the impact of the play because there are rarely neat and tidy resolutions to life’s problems,” Dr. Spangler said. “We learn to execute Plan B, and we hope that we can do it with poise and grace and faith, with God’s unwavering hand on our shoulders.”

Going into this play, I did not really know what to expect. I had heard about the play earlier this semester and that was about it. However, Marvin’s Room does a masterful job of showing the viewer what the main issues are going to be early on in the show, but also maintains the suspense throughout as the family wrestle with the main conflict of the story.

The plot essentially revolves around a shocking health diagnosis for one of the sisters and how the entire family navigates that, while also trying to manage other side issues that are revealed as the show goes forward. Watching this play evoked a series of emotions within me, from fear, to worry, happiness, sadness and so many more. I laughed, I cried and I reflected on my own life. This play reminds us that our time on this earth is short, encouraging us to make the most of where God has placed us and the most out of the time that He has given us. 

If you missed Marvin’s Room this time around, do not worry. As Dr Spangler mentioned, the HSU Department of Theatre will be performing Marvin’s Room during the Christian University Theatre Festival, which will take place on the HSU campus in March. I highly recommend going and supporting the department and this masterclass of a production. As we approach March and the Theatre Festival, be on the lookout for more information so that you do not miss this incredible event.