Five Bronies and Pegasisters meet weekly to celebrate their love of My Little Pony in The Antelope Party (photo by Bjorn Bolinder)
THE ANTELOPE PARTY
The Wild Project
195 East Third St. between Aves. A & B
Through December 4, $25-$45
www.theantelope.party
thewildproject.com
Cosplay battles fascism in Dutch Kills Theater’s creepy good production of Eric John Meyer’s The Antelope Party. The show, extended through December 4 at the Wild Project, takes place primarily in the Western Pennsylvania apartment of Ben (Edward Mawere), a Brony — an adult fan of the children’s television cartoon program My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic — who hosts weekly meetings where he and several other Bronies and Pegasisters gather to dress up in character and participate in role-playing games. Shawn (Will Dagger) is Pinkie Pie, Doug (Quinn Franzen) is Rainbow Dash, Maggie (Lindsley Howard) is Rarity, Rachel (Caitlin Morris) is Twilight Sparkle, and Ben is Fluttershy.
Like Dungeons & Dragons, they follow specific rules as they create fantasy scenarios that offer a respite from the ever-more-threatening world outside, one that would never accept them.
“When I saw my first episode it was like opening a door into this other room in my brain that I never knew existed — where I could have feelings and not be ashamed of them or have to make sarcastic remarks or have to put people down before they put me down,” Shawn says. “It was like getting this warm welcome to the home I never knew I had. Where everypony gets me and I get them.”
Acknowledging everyone’s right to be themselves, Rachel explains, “Our Friendship Magic is for us and if anypony wants to live without it, we need to let them do that.”
They are thrown off balance when a stranger, Jean (Anna Ishida), shows up, and it turns out she thought the online posting was code for a different kind of meeting. Soon they are discussing the new Neighborhood Watch, a vigilante group that appears to be kidnapping people as the police look the other way. “They’ve been popping up around the country in towns like this one: high unemployment, high poverty,” the conspiracy-prone Jean says.
Shawn (Will Dagger) and Maggie (Lindsley Howard) go for a walk in Eric John Meyer’s The Antelope Party (photo by Bjorn Bolinder)
When Maggie returns after having been snatched by the watch, she denies it, although Doug, who was there when it happened, claims otherwise. Soon Maggie and Shawn are falling in step with the watch, which is part of a growing group called the Antelope Party that employs fascist tactics to rule over communities, pitting Brony against Brony, neighbor against neighbor.
You don’t have to know anything about Equestria and My Little Pony to appreciate the play, which unfolds on Yu-Hsuan Chen’s highly effective set, which morphs from Ben’s living room to a booth at a diner, a park bench, and other locations. Kate Fry’s costumes are bright and colorful, with adorable little touches that match Brian Bernhard’s props, which include dozens and dozens of My Little Pony toys and memorabilia. Director Jess Chayes (HOME/SICK, Half Moon Bay) treats the subject matter with the care it deserves, mixing humor with the impending doom, although the ending feels overly ambiguous and a few plot holes remain open.
The Antelope Party, which evokes Eugène Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, might feel like it was written yesterday, but Meyer (The Broken Umbrella, The Wheel of Fortune [a theory of change]) wrote it in 2016, inspired by Trump rallies. In fact, in the 2017 world premiere at the Wit in Chicago (which also featured Mawere as Ben), the watch wore red hats that proclaimed, “Make Antelopes Great Again.” But the show is no mere anti-Trump diatribe; instead, it’s a cautionary parable about the dangers of authoritarianism, where obedience to the state is forced upon all citizens, who are punished for their individuality. Bronies and Pegasisters are stand-ins for Black and brown people, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, Jews and Muslims, the homeless, and other minorities that are suppressed in dictatorships. As Shawn says early on, “You don’t get to choose your cutie mark. It chooses you.” And as Rachel declares, “This is so fucked. All I ever wanted was to not have to act normal.” Welcome to the new normal.