Beyond appearances: FIU Theatre’s double feature reveals hidden truths

What if the most important conversations are the ones we never say out loud? In a world where people carefully choose their words and manage how they present themselves, the realities of everyday life are often far more complicated than what meets the eye.

FIU Theatre's latest production brings two plays together in a special double feature. Alice Gerstenberg's Overtones and Susan Glaspell's Trifles invite audiences to look beyond appearances and reconsider the assumptions that shape how we understand others.

In Alice Gerstenberg's Overtones, two women engage in a seemingly polite conversation while their inner selves reveal the thoughts and feelings concealed beneath their cordial exchange.

For director Rebecca Covey, the play's relevance extends well beyond its 1915 debut. She sees a familiar struggle in the tension between who we truly are and who we present to the world.

The play explores “the struggle that everyone would like to unite our true selves with the self that we portray to the world, and that only true and authentic relationships can be built on allowing ourselves to reveal our true humanity,” says Covey.

In Susan Glaspell's Trifles, a murder investigation brings a group of men to a farmhouse, where the answers to an unsettling crime may be hidden in plain sight. As the investigators search for evidence, they dismiss seemingly insignificant details of the household. Two women, however, begin to notice what the men have overlooked.

For director Marina Pareja, the play highlights the importance of paying attention to the small details that often go unnoticed.

“Although written over a century ago, a lot of the themes, whether they are good or bad, still apply today in a society that often moves too quickly to recognize the little details that otherwise go unnoticed,” says Pareja.

The exploration of identity and appearances also extends to the production's costume design, particularly in Overtones, where clothing helps distinguish the characters' public personas from their inner selves.

“My main inspiration came from the playwright and her focus on women and their struggle for meaning and identity outside of marriage,” says BFA Design student Elliot Eibe. “Characters like Harriet and Margarett wear period clothing that represents the struggle between women to uphold and maintain social position, while their inner selves, Hetty and Maggie, feature less structured and drapelike designs, playing with the idea of surrealism vs. realism to visually distinguish the characters' representative identities from their inner selves.”

In a world where appearances often shape first impressions, Overtones and Trifles remind audiences that understanding others requires looking beyond the surface. Whether through the thoughts we conceal or the details we overlook, both plays reveal how much can be discovered when we take the time to look a little closer.

FIU Theatre’s double feature of Overtones and Trifles is playing now through Nov. 22 at The Wertheim.