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As money finishes raining from above the stage, audience members bid on values such as respect and happiness in “The Game of Life,” a new play from Breadcrumbs Productions. Tanner Efinger, owner of Wunderbar, wrote and acted in the rendition of the classic board game.

The immersive satire throughout Wunderbar includes a room (and actress) head-to-toe in polka dots, supersized dice, a pirate banker and a dog powered by “artificial intelligence.” Efiger said the show is meant to be outrageous, but not without purpose.

“(In the board game,) there’s career and money and house and and there’s so many structures that I started to look at. I started to say none of these actually are beneficial to who we are as people,” Efinger said. “I took a stab at all of them.”

“The Game of Life” will be the last production under the bar’s current ownership and will run until Nov. 19. The play explores many tough topics, from race and sexuality to AI and capitalism, all while engaging with the audience through deliberate shock value.

“This is the perfect show for the last ride. Artistically, for myself, I’m writing, directing and acting in it, which I will never do again. I’m having a blast, but I am exhausted,” Efinger said. “It does feel really cumulative and really exciting.”

Upon entering the bar, audience members are met by bright colors and four golden doors. The pirate banker, played by Efinger, divides the cohort into four groups: salary, career, family and house. From there, players enter the show’s four main scenes.

One of the scenes depicts an older white man fearful of conspiracies in his living room with a rifle on his lap who then transforms into the subjects of his fears. As audience members walk into another scene, a woman in a red and white spotted room deals with financial stress. Another scene shows a celebrity holding a press conference in “Millionaire Acres” while controlled by an unembodied voice. In the fourth scene, a person is chained in the basement after having lost several turns in “The Game of Life.”

Director and creator of “The Game of Life,” Tanner Efinger came up with the production as a reaction to societal issues. He performs in the show as well as directing it.
Cassandra Roshu | Photo Editor

“The shock and surprise and sadness was culminating, and there was a combination (of feelings) in every room that we went,” said audience member Binaiser Dabu. “Every character that we met, so every character had a depth of underlying depth of sadness.”

One of the most poignant scenes depicts the woman in the basement, Eleanor (Mary Nickson), “losing a turn” just as a player in the board game would. A laugh echoes up a staircase covered in tally marks counting the number of turns a character in the play had lost. In a hysteric monologue, Eleanor recounts their failed attempts.

The play’s final scene depicts Eleanor debating their own personhood, deciding whether they would kill themself or attempt another turn at the game. The scene ends, in typical fashion for the play, with an inspirational monologue about human nature written by ChatGPT.

“Eleanor is certainly written to be the character that the audience connects to the most. Not only because she is the most human, but she has experienced the most real events,” Nickson said. “It’s a really poignant commentary on how the game is rigged for certain people”

The show started as an outlet for Efinger during the early stages of the pandemic when Wunderbar had to close its doors. During this time away, he decided to write “The Game of Life” as a bittersweet goodbye.

“I struggled a lot and I feel like the curtain was torn away and I saw a truth behind it, and that truth for me, was the reality of social programming,” Efinger said. “I grew up thinking I had to marry a woman and have kids and do the family thing. And then I, as a gay man, I kind of realized, ‘Oh, wait, I don’t have to do that. That’s just what society wants me to do.’”

The play’s outrageous design was meant to make modern issues more palatable. This decision, Efinger said, allows each and every cast member to put their spin on the role and allow for creativity.

The play is meant to be a different experience for every person, multiple audience members said. Each viewer will interpret the scenes differently depending on how they’re feeling and what their views are.

“I want my audiences to remember what they saw. Weeks, months, maybe years later.” Efinger said. “I do believe that stories and how we tell stories can change our lives and can also change the world. I hope that it makes people think, and laugh – I guess, at themselves.”

Published on November 13, 2023 at 9:37 pm