From February 5 through 7, the Los Osos Theatre Department put on a play called “Dead Man’s Cell Phone”. 

The main characters in the play were named Jean and Gordon and they were played by Evynn Domenech and Tristan Rodriguez. Jean is a woman who meets a man shortly after he dies due to the ceaseless ringing of his cell phone. Beginning in an early 2000s cafe, Jean takes it upon herself to answer Gordon’s cell phone and ends up informing the family of his passing.

The most shaken by the news is Gordon’s mother, Mrs. Gottleib who is played by Ella Lyons. Lyons did a notably amazing job at portraying such a complex character who had been estranged from her son but never stopped showing her love for him, allowing for an especially tear-jerking moment for the audience. 

Senior, and Honorary Technician of this production, Aarya Yalamanchili agrees and said, “Mrs. Gottleib played by Ella Lyons stood out the most to me with her perfectly timed comedic relief.”

Characters such as Dwight, played by Ian Montano, and Hermia, Tori Watkins, as well as Lauren Hall who played two characters all played their parts harmoniously throughout the plotline and helped drive the story forward.

Junior Ian Montano explained that it “took about three months” of preparation for the production and his favorite part of the process was “spending time with the other cast members.” He also expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to be in the play itself. 

I personally went to the first showing on Thursday, February 5, and the production went very smoothly and felt so professional. The play itself kept me on my seat and did not face one moment of boredom. 

What really piqued my interest was the seating arrangement. The playbill mentions “limited seating” so I was slightly confused considering the size of the Los Osos auditorium. I came to find out that the seating was actually on the stage itself allowing the play to be more immersive and allowed for an intimate air with the performance. 

I had my doubts at first because it was something I had never seen before, but it was particularly helpful because I could see more details of the set and the expressive faces of the actors. Early on in the play during Gordon’s funeral, the audience seating was a part of the “church”. We sat for the eulogy and stood during a gospel song turning the play into more of an experience which was a really unique and staggering presentation.

Before the play, upon the intermission, and after the play, rainy day-esque oldie music was being played which was a nice touch because even though the play was not set in the mid-1900s, the atmosphere it set perfectly fit in with the mood of the production and staging itself.

Furthermore on the intermission, “Lori’s Cookies” from Lori Briscoe as well as bottles of water were being sold for a dollar each and the 15 minutes felt like the perfect amount of time for the audience to continue interest but be refilled.

One of my favorite details of the production that stood out was a scene in Jean and Dwight’s favorite paper store where they share an embrace and paper appears to be raining from the sky. It was truly beautiful and I was amazed with how smoothly they executed this. The lighting changed to warm tones which illuminated each piece of paper surrounding the two, making it really feel like a movie.