Reaction to SubUrbia

Subject: SubUrbia

I’d like to look at the character Bee-Bee from the play, SubUrbia. This production hit a bit close to home for me, and Kelsie Tregilgas’ performance is the reason why. It was not because her performance mirrored my life, rather the life of my younger sister. I think it will help to describe what I thought the play was trying to get across, and although I am sure that I may be incorrect in my analysis, it will help explain my critic of Bee-Bee. I attended the Thursday’s production of the play.

I think it would be easy to say the play is an amplification of the lives of a couple of misfits, or a play that was written to open your eyes about “kids these days,” but I think it is more than that. I think the play offers a story about young adults that have made very minor decisions that have led to insurmountable changes in their lives. I think it is the little decisions in life, or those that seem very insignificant, that put these characters in their current situations. I don’t want to analyze every character, but it was easy to see that Jeff might have been in a situation that he could’ve easily moved on from, if he had made some better decisions in life. This is shown over and over again with every character in the play. Every character from Sooze to Norman has made certain decisions to bring them to this point, and when the play concludes there will be even greater decisions to make for each of the characters.

The reason I related to Bee-Bee so much is because my sister, Rebekka, is living a similar lifestyle. I imagine that Bee-Bee is someone meant for greater things in life. I imagine that she has made poor decisions in life that leads her to her ultimate death in the play. Though there is not an explanation for every character’s past, Kelsie performed her character in such a way that I felt like I had known where she came from. I picture her making some of the same decisions that my sister had made during her earlier years in life. My sister made certain decisions in life that may have seemed simple or minute at the moment, but that helped get direct her life to where she is today. Bee-Bee, I believe, may have made these very same decisions. My sister chose to have sex at a very early age of thirteen, and in the play when Bee-Bee and Buff go off into the woods; I very easily pictured my sister in the same situation. My sister then decided that smoking was a good decision. Rebekka has admitted she smokes because her friends did. This is something that I thought that neither I nor she would ever do. Our Dad has smoked since we were born and we have constantly debated with him on the decision to quit. Either way, this was probably a somewhat simple decision for her to make. It may even seem like no big deal to you or me, but I think it led to other decisions down the road. I think the same happened with Bee-Bee. I think smoking cigarettes led to the decision to try weed, and then led to the decision to try cocaine, and then speed, and then “ice.” Every small decision led to another small decision which placed my sister in rehab, the Air Force, and now in programs such as NA, Narcotics Anonymous. Though Rebekka hasn’t ended up dead behind a dumpster in some alley, there is a part of me that waits for that call every single day. Bee-Bee is a character that I very closely related to.
The entire cast surrounded around this same premise. I believe the play did a wonderful job of showing what small decisions can mean to someone’s overall life. Though I related best to Kelsie, I could easily see parts of myself in some of these characters. Though I have made decisions to stay away from drugs and alcohol, there are other small decisions in my life that I regret, but have gotten me to where I am now. Some small decisions have led to great things, where others have led to horrible consequences.