Along with the many homecoming festivities, the Doane Theatre Department opened its first mainstage show of the 2026-2027 season, “Rhinoceros” by Eugène Ionesco. This show is a French absurdist comedy written in the late 1950s and translated to English by Derek Prouse. This show opened Oct. 1 and had a three-show run, with closing night being Oct.3.
The director of this show, Professor of Theatre Rob McKercher, decided to take a different approach on this show than past productions have done traditionally. McKercher gender-swapped a few of the roles. The roles of Doane’s production Bérengère (Played by senior Kenzie Sanders), Jean (junior Ivy Shove), Dribble (sophomore Jozi Heermans) and Shiftor (freshman Angie Nieto Otero) were all written as men but were played by women. The role of Desi (sophomore Andrew Jones), was written as a woman but was switched to a man. This made it so casting could better suit the amount of women in the department by having more roles available to them.
The story of “Rhinoceros” starts with Bérengère, a slacker who cannot commit herself to anything (besides her crush on Desi), talking to her highly cultured and slightly arrogant foil: Jean. They have conversations about Bérengère’s lack of direction, among other things, while being interrupted by fellow townspeople and rhinoceroses running about. The sightings of rhinoceroses increase and begin to majorly concern Bérengère as she goes about her life.
Her peers continue turning into rhinoceroses around her, like her friend Jean, who changes right in front of her after a heated argument in Jean’s home. Then it is mentioned that all her co-workers and the townspeople changed as well by Dribble. At this point, Dribble, Desi and Bérengère are the last humans on Earth. Dribble then decides she wants to go with her friends and co-workers, turning into a rhinoceros and leaving Bérengère and Desi. Lastly, Desi, now Bérengère’s boyfriend, gets into an argument with her over the rhinoceroses and changes, leaving Bérengère all alone. She then delivers a multi-page-long monologue, closing out the show.
The rhinoceroses are meant to be a metaphor for conformity in an era of fascism. This is most apparent in lines delivered towards the end of the show, where it then becomes clear to the audience. A perspective of some individuals who worked on the show was that the play was meant to start out unserious and comedic, as it slowly became more severe and apparent when it was already too late to make change.
This show featured a lot of actors and crew members who haven’t gotten experience in the Doane Theatre Department thus far, which served as an opportunity for them to get involved right at the beginning of the season. According to a group of both cast and crew members, although many parts of the show felt stressful, it was really good theatre experience for them in many ways
