Nataley Davis | staff writer

John Lane, director of the theatre arts program at Duquesne, has directed over 100 productions at Genesius Theater.

He is continuing the streak as the director of the newest play; “No Exit,” written in 1944 by Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century.

On Nov. 6 the production premiered at Genesius Theater, home of the Red Masquers theatre troupe.

Sartre wrote the play after being a prisoner of war during the Nazi occupation of France in 1940. The show takes place in the afterlife, where three people are put together to suffer for eternity, inspired by his ideas about self-identity and feelings of being trapped.

Lane said that he was drawn to directing “No Exit” because of how Sartre’s theatrical explanation of existential philosophy is easy to digest.

“The really famous line from the play is “hell is other people,” because they’re letting the other people define who they are instead of defining themselves — and this is their torture for the rest of their life,” Lane said.

Sartre focused heavily on existentialism, the idea that humans are born without a predetermined purpose, they must create their own identity and meaning through their choices.

“No Exit” is a one-act play, running approximately an hour and a half, a shorter work compared to Sartre’s other famous existential writing like his book “Being and Nothingness.” The length is potentially influenced by the Nazi Germany-imposed curfews at the time, requiring plays to be performed within tight time limits.

The cast consists of only four characters, three of them being people in this play’s version of hell and the off-putting valet who directs them there.

Each person who arrives comes down an elevator guided by the valet who seems to mimic the devil and director of their hell. The room is an open, bare, white space with three chairs.

The guests all take notice of a bell that can call the valet back down, but it only rings when he is in the room, symbolizing the bleak and unknown nature of the afterlife.

The three people — a proud journalist named Garcin (played by John Murphy), postal worker Inez (played by Morgan Sandzimier) who describes herself as “a damned [expletive]” and an entitled Parisian woman named Estelle (played by Aubrey Posluszny) — could not be more different in the way they cope with their fate.

Estelle cries that her eternity in hell was a mistake, while Inez is not surprised by her destiny.

After they share stories of the horrible ways they treated others on Earth, they come to the conclusion that they were together to torment one another.

Garcin suggests that the three should not interact, but the women end up driving him mad by refusing to leave him alone as he succumbs to his frustration and drops his nice act. His politeness slowly unravels when he explodes into yelling fits and periods of shutting down completely, showing his true character.

Murphy, who plays Garcin, said that after he learned about the characters he realized why they derailed into fiery arguments and continually turned on each other.

“I was very surprised at how terrible these characters are. I think for anyone coming in to watch, they’re also going to figure it out and then understand why that would happen,” Murphy said. “A lot of the ideas behind existentialism are timeless, so there’s a lot of it that we could see in today’s society.”

Throughout the play, the characters begrudgingly admitted to what they did to get punished. Garcin cheated and mistreated his wife, Inez seduced her cousin’s wife and Estelle cheated on her husband and drowned the illegitimate baby. Their acts showcase the existential way that people decide their fate — often in a negative way.

Senior, Grayce Sullivan, came to the show on opening night to see her friend Sandzimier perform, but left with a newfound appreciation for how art helps people confront difficult ideas about being human.

“Existentialism is something that people don’t want to think about, but I think art is a good way to expose people to those types of conversations,” Sullivan said. “We’re all thinking about it in some way, and I think art helps us cope and ponder questions that we don’t know.”

“No Exit” will run until Nov. 15 at 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday with an additional 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday. Tickets are $5 for students and seniors and $15 for general admission. Information is available on the Red Masquer’s website.

Nataley Davis can be reached at davisn5@duq.edu