Today’s edition of the University of Maryland’s student newspaper features a story on the student-produced and directed Grand Guignol play that I mentioned here yesterday. The Lab: An Experiment in Grand Guignol gets high marks from student reporter Dave Smith, though his article could have used another proof-read and a healthy dose of judicious editing:

“The play, a theatre department Off-Center Production, features the two directors’ interpretation of the play. Messer and Snyder envelop the torture-heavy play with several profound layers of conceptual metaphor. For example, while the chief storyline revolves around a mad doctor’s Frankenstein-esque experiments (Igor-like deformed assistant included), the audience listens to a conversation between Alien Voices (David Kriebs and Catherine Schuler) as they discuss whether these examples of “thinking meat” deserve to be involved in the bigger galactic picture.

But if you’re not a narcissist, don’t be shocked by The Lab. Its pessimistic message – we’re all going to hell, and there’s nothing we can do about it – is the bottom line of the production.”

Read the full article.

One bone I’d like to pick with the paper is that the homepage of our GrandGuignol.com site is quoted twice in the article without any attribution given. The quoted text even appears in quotes, but isn’t followed by any source. I’m not sure how that slipped by the editors without raising a big red flag, but I have a suspicion that it may be time to ban beer bongs in the Diamondback newsroom.

Anyway, such an enthusiastic article should help ensure a full house at tonight’s final performance.