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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

arts

University Players perform play based on Bosnian War

War changes people. It can affect their family, lives and aspirations. It can take over citizens and divide friends and family ?members.

War, and its effects on countries and people, is the theme of the University Players’ final show of the semester, “Honey Brown Eyes.”

The play, written by Stefanie Zadravec, takes place in Bosnia in 1992, the first year of the Bosnian war.

During the war, more than 100,000 people were killed in acts of genocide, the worst act of genocide since the Nazi regime.

The first part of “Honey Brown Eyes” takes place near the border of Serbia, and the second half is set in the capital city of Sarajevo.

“The focus of the play is on these normal people who have these extreme circumstances thrust on them,” said Jackson Goldberg, who plays a character named Dragan.

Dragan is a 22-year-old soldier who fights for the White Eagles military group, a group that was responsible for the majority of the genocide.

Before the war, Dragan performed in a rock band with another character named Dennis.

He dreamed of being a famous rock star, but the band broke up when the war began.

“The play is about who these people were before the war and who they are now,” Goldberg said. “All of these people are trapped into this situation where they’re either a soldier or a victim.”

Goldberg said one of the biggest challenges was to put himself into that situation and portray the feelings correctly. With such a heavy play and one about a real-life event, he wanted to do it justice.

“Because this really happened, it seems so important to honor these peoples’ stories and portray what they went through,” Goldberg said. “It’s just about getting everything right.”

Junior Catherine Bustos, who plays Zlata in the production, felt the same ?pressure.

“There’s a lot of pressure to take these true accounts and put them into a character,” Bustos said. “To not do it justice is almost shaming their memory.”

Getting everything right didn’t come easy to the cast, who has only had about two weeks to put together the show.

They’ve only been working in the theater with the costumes, lights and set for a week, putting intense pressure on the actors to focus and work hard.

“Even though the hardest part is getting it right, it’s also the big thing that makes us work harder,” Goldberg said. “We all feel we have a bit of an obligation to the people that really went through this.”

Bustos’ character is only 12 years old, and getting into such a young mindset proved to be a challenge.

To prepare, Bustos talked to her younger cousins to learn about their opinions and how they look at things. She also read “The Diary of Zlata Filipovic,” which is a diary account of a young girl who lived during the war.

In the play, there are very few details about Zlata, so Bustos had to channel what she learned through the novel and her cousins.

“She didn’t really have a background,” Bustos said. “She didn’t really have a childhood. It’s been stripped from her growing up in the middle of this.”

“Honey Brown Eyes” will be performed at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday in the Lee Norvelle Theatre and Drama Center.

The performances are free and open to all. After the closing performance on Saturday, the University Players are hosting a gala featuring Eastern European appetizers from Anatolia.

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