We’re Already In by Nick Poulos
The Desk as performed by the Reeta Honkakowski Company opens with the performers dressed in tan lab coats welcoming us into the theater. The performers begin pushing each other around, each one trying to look inside a single desk that is on stage. The instructor of this “classroom” enters the stage, dressed in a black military coat with war medals. She blows her whistle, and the students begin to seat themselves and read their books. Every page turn and head movement is completely methodical and done in sync. It is at about this time that I realize, this isn’t a traditional performance. This is a dance piece.
The plot of the show revolves around the instructor ordering her students to do their daily tasks like clockwork. Reading, writing, even moving becomes mechanical as the students all fall in with the cult over time. Starting out, the students all have their own personalities. One tries to be teacher’s pet, another is constantly bullied, one is the black sheep, and one watches the rest for any faults. By the end of the show, these personalities die, and only the collective unit remains.
What interests me most about The Desk are the connections that the show makes. One connection is made to Hitler and the idea of Sieg Heil, but another is made to the military, as the leader almost salutes at some points. The word cult, as defined by the Oxford dictionary, is a system of religious veneration and devotion directed towards a particular figure or object. This description almost fits the military to a tee. The leader, in this case the general, dictates what the followers, in this case the soldiers, do. They are trained to be mechanical, moving like clockwork. Wake up, run, eat, shower, train, eat, sleep, repeat. While the military may not exactly be a religious group, they certainly are directed by one person, Uncle Sam, to one thing, the U.S. flag.
The show also makes the connection that school could be considered to be a cult. The students are all taught in the same way to think the same things all while leading them towards becoming part of the group known as society. School can even be a religious organization sometimes, allowing mostly Catholic schools to exist. The Desk, through it’s brilliant use of movement to tell its story, shows us that we only think we’re different from cult members. In reality, we’re already in.