The absurd comedy show titled Subproject 150: Laughing Across the Aisle: An Intentional Piece of Political Theater to Heal Our Nation Through Humor manages to create one bit so unique and ludicrous that it carries the entire second half of the show. Imagine this: a comedian, who is also a secret agent, has made a clone of herself, and this clone believes she is Charlie Kirk.
Written by and starring College fourth-year Rose Kelly and directed by College fourth-year Ethan Katz, this one-woman show followed a fictional version of Kelly and her attempt to break the political divide through humor. That is, until she was called into service by the CIA, and her clone had to take the reins.
“It’s a very earnest stand-up show gone wrong that turns into a very innocent clown show,” Kelly said. “But the circumstances of the clown show are [actually] anything but innocent.”
Unfortunately, the lack of innocence in the show didn’t go quite as far as one would hope. Simple genitalia jokes and borderline racy humor can be funny, but only for a short amount of time.
Despite this, the utter dedication and determination by Katz and Kelly made it an incredibly entertaining performance. Kelly’s ability to captivate the audience completely on her own was one of the most impressive feats I’ve ever seen. She took up space with no hesitation, and her ability to go from character to character in a matter of seconds blew me away. There was a bit in the show where Kelly’s clone put on different hats to change into different characters; she became a barbershop quartet member, an angry wife, a film-fearing debutante, a plane, and more with complete ease.
Katz and Kelly utilized an intelligent method of comedy, building bits piece by piece until the hilarity exploded in the audience’s faces. The jokes could be hit or miss on their own, but as a whole, they were well thought-out and culminated in an incomprehensibly moving ending.
The night after the performance, I wasn’t sure what to do with what I had seen. More political humor was needed, it wasn’t always laugh-out-loud funny, and some moments seemed to just be filling time. Still, I couldn’t stop thinking about the show. It stuck with me in a way I didn’t expect, and it wasn’t until I talked with Katz and Kelly that I understood why.
“Part of this [show] is trying to do something with that fear, that feeling of helplessness, and the feeling of absurdity,” Kelly said. “It feels absurd sometimes. There’s stuff you’re not supposed to say.”
Subproject 150 was an utterly absurd show. That absurdity, along with the sense of discomfort it was able to instill in its audience, made laughter an instinctive reaction. The entire audience erupted in collective laughter throughout the entire show, proving that Katz and Kelly managed to create a uniting experience in this difficult political climate. Katz was hoping for that.
“I hope they laughed, [and felt] a little bit of whiplash,” he said.
Political humor is difficult. It’s easy to make it too cliché, and sometimes Subproject 150 did suffer from that issue. However, the fallen jokes didn’t affect the show’s takeaways. It’s easy to feel afraid and confused when thinking about the current state of the world; Katz and Kelly feel the same way, and they managed to create a piece of art that helped the audience handle those feelings.
“I do think laughter can be a uniting force, and I think that laughter is very important,” Kelly said. “Humor is an important mode of communication because of how visceral a response laughter is.”
Subproject 150 conveyed a sense of solace, through both humor and the occasional feeling of alienation. The show was a piece of art that resonated with you, even if you didn’t fully understand it or had certain complaints. When I spoke with Kelly and Katz after the show, I felt as if I were in the presence of artists who had impacted me profoundly. I’ll be holding on to the feelings the performance gave me — as well as the picture of Kelly as Charlie Kirk, which she passed out to every audience member — for a long time.
