Ohio State graduate acting students discuss solo acting festival “Odyssey of the Soul”

Paitton Lewis performs her solo work, titled “Decolonizing Me,” as part of the ongoing “Odyssey of the Soul” festival. Credit: Amy Pham

Though many Buckeyes may be familiar with Homer’s “Odyssey,” students enrolled in Ohio State’s Master of Fine Arts in theater program are currently taking audiences on a different type of epic journey: an “Odyssey of the Soul.” 

An ongoing festival titled “Odyssey of the Soul” — which began Thursday and is set to conclude on April 12 — aims to reflect humanity’s capacity for deep feeling through a presentation of students’ solo works, according to the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts’ website. Every performance features eight ministories, with 16 total performances being delivered by two separate casts categorized by the labels “Scarlet” and “Grey,” the website states. 

Noah Bennett, a second-year graduate student in acting and Grey cast member, said his solo work stems from his religious background. 

Called “The Phil Mitchell Radio Hour,” Bennett’s brief show follows a “devout” radio host who is not as righteous as he seems, he said. 

“This idea just sort of popped up to me about an evangelical radio host, and what if a guy, who was in the business of God, didn’t go to heaven?” Bennett said. 

Noah Bennett acts out a scene as Phil Mitchell in “The Phil Mitchell Radio Hour,” his solo work in the ongoing “Odyssey of the Soul” festival. Credit: Amy Pham

Bennett said he hopes the work effectively examines the dichotomy between organized religion’s business dealings and faith-based practices. 

“I am still religious, but I think over the years I’ve sort of investigated why religion is so polarizing for a lot of people and I think — I can’t speak for everyone — but I think for a lot of people, it’s just because they’ve been misled or hurt or burned by organizations and possibly individuals,” Bennett said. 

Bennett said a September 2023 on-campus workshop with professional actress Olwen Fouéré helped him flesh out his performance’s premise.   

“She started improvising what audience reactions might be, not theatrical audiences, [but] what [Phil Mitchell’s] audience might be like, when they realize he’s sort of not what he propped himself up to be,” Bennett said. “A lot of those reactions she gave me kept fueling mine to try and kind of put the lid on the pot that was boiling over and so a lot of those initial improvised moments from that little workshop session did make the final show.” 

Paitton Lewis, also a second-year graduate student in acting and Scarlet cast member, said her show mainly derives inspiration from her cultural upbringing. 

“I’m Alaskan native, I’m Unangan, and it’s been a really hard thing connecting with it because I grew up in a predominantly white city, but also with a mixed cultural family,” Lewis said. “It’s a piece for Native visibility for other people just to start seeing Native people in spaces.”  

Lewis said her show, “Decolonizing Me,” is all about herself going through an introspective exploration and asking questions about the ways in which she grew up. The journey to create and fine-tune the idea required tremendous effort, she said.  

“The process itself has been very hard because dealing with being Native but also being white-presenting and ‘not presenting’ of being Native,” Lewis said. “It’s a challenging perspective because some people will say you didn’t grow up on the reservation, so therefore you’re not Native.” 

Even when faced with this somewhat harsh and complex reality, Lewis said she wouldn’t let self-doubt stop her from creating her show. 

“I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it,’ but each and every week, I was just faced with the challenge of, ‘Am I the person to tell this?’ and it’s like, I am the person to tell this, it’s just going to be a very hard thing for me to tell,” Lewis said. 

Bennett and Lewis said the new multipurpose lab space in the Theatre, Film, and Media Arts Building has helped bring their respective visions to life in a practical way. 

“This is a brand-new building and so, with that, we get to break in the space but there’s some state-of-the-art lighting and sound capabilities in that space and we, as the creators, we got a crash course on how to operate and work with all those systems,” Bennett said. “My lighting and sound are quite extensive, and I spent a lot of hours there.”

Lewis said though her show isn’t as intricately lit as Bennett’s, she still took full advantage of the lab space. 

“I love sound design and I love putting people in a place that is different from what the multipurpose lab offers on a day-to-day basis, which is just a room with black walls and black floor and black curtains,” Lewis said. “When we got to see everybody’s pieces with just the lights even, it was like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s your intention’ or ‘Oh wow, that’s your story.’” 

Even with all the creative challenges they’ve faced, Bennett and Lewis agree the experience of designing a show from beginning to end has been well worthwhile. 

“For me, this has been a lifetime of work, and so I’ve really enjoyed getting to put myself through it a little bit and challenge myself in ways that I know I haven’t been challenged before,” Bennett said. 

More information about “Odyssey of the Soul,” including how to reserve free tickets for the performances, can be found on the Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts’ website.