Margarida gets a good grade
Edmon Rotea - Gateway

For a small, residentially located theatre that’s attempting something a bit more “sharp, hip and urban,” class is definitely in session with Northern LightsTheatre inaugural production of Miss Margarida’s Way.

Miss Margarida’s Way, a one-woman show starring Linda Grass as the eighth-grade biology teacher Miss Margarida, is more than just a simple play—it’s an interactive, immersive and literally an in-your-face experience.

Upon entering the doors of Northern Light Theatre’s Third Playing Space, unassuming audience members get a glimpse of the stage setting: a typical classroom with the teacher’s desk at the front and nine student desks arranged in a simple three-by-three formation.

At first, the audience will be looking for a place to sit, scouting the rows of black chairs that line the left, the center, and the right sides of the stage. But, before class starts, the more observant and daring audience members can talk to the theatre’s staff and choose to forego the general seating, instead enduring the uncomfortable confines of one of the onstage student desks.

Yours truly decided to get one of the best seats in the house, even if it made him look like keener in front of the rest of the audience. The experience made the play more real and more enjoyable than watching a movie on a high-definition television. It’s a theatrical experience that’s only rivaled by real life itself, or the futuristic holodeck of the USS Enterprise.

The bell rings, and Miss Margarida enters the classroom. With her black-rimmed pseudo-intellectual glasses, her decorated, red stiletto pumps, red vest, red handbag, black skirt and black stockings, the older—yet attractive—schoolteacher is ready to teach and seduce the audience.

“Is there a Messiah in the class? A Messiah?” questions Miss Margarida as she reads out the prank class list—a list that also includes the names “Holy Father” and “Holy Ghost.” But after quickly learning that it’s all a prank, Miss Margarida erupts in anger—and her entertaining dialogue about life, society, politics, masturbation and sex education begins.

Minutes later, during geography class, Miss Margarida even draws an erect penis on the blackboard and refers to it as the “Cape of Good Hope.” Soon after, Miss Margarida rants about the truth of life, education, the real world, the birds and the bees, and childhood lesbian encounters.

While her spouting may seem repetitive, at least Miss Margarida engages her pupils—the audience—as she confides in, seduces, and tries to teach them with yelling, swearing and vulgar language: dialogue fit for a crazy, charismatic, manic-depressive totalitarian dictator. Even if a wannabe-student raises his/her hand or makes a comment, Miss Margarida delivers convincing improvisation and comments that definitely satisfies one of her many blackboard settings: “there’s no good teacher without a good class.”

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