Students, faculty and Atlanta playgoers alike were treated to a sizzling helping of anthropology and monkey gore at the premier of Hominid.

The show premiered Thursday night in the Mary Gray Monroe Theater. Directed by Out of Hand Theater’s Ariel de Man, the play was a two-hour romp of primate comedy and heart wrenching drama.

Written this year by members of Out of Hand Theater and visiting playwriting professor Ken Weitzman, Hominid is based on the book Chimpanzee Politics by renowned primatologist and Emory professor Frans de Waal. This book tells of a scientifically ground-breaking event that occurred in a troop of chimpanzees at a zoo in Arnhem, Netherlands.

In this group of apes, a jealous chimpanzee murdered the alpha male of the troop and ultimately committed suicide. Documented by de Waal and his team, this single event proved the presence of a capacity for empathy in chimpanzees.

In the play, Luit, played by Emory theater professor Adam Fristoe, is the leader of the troop. The group of primates is firmly held together by Luit and matriarch, Mama, played by local actress Carolyn Cook, but jealousy starts brewing in other members of the troop.

Spurred by diabolical ape plotter Jerome (professional actor Chris Kayser), young chimpanzee Nikki (played by College junior David Micley) tricks the group into becoming the leader. The younger chimp ultimately fails in leading the group and the role as alpha male is reclaimed by former leader, Luit. In a jealous rage, Nikki and Jerome savagely murder Luit. The guilt is too much for Nikki and he ultimately commits suicide by drowning himself.

While the story is a difficult one to adapt for the theater, the cast of the show brought it to life.

Consisting of talented Emory students, alumni, faculty and local actors, the cast portrayed the troop not as grunting chimpanzees, but as articulate apes with human characteristics. Instead of actors prancing around and slinging bananas in cliché monkey costumes, the cast sports horn-rimmed glasses and tweed jackets as they form devious schemes and quote Shakespeare.

Even though the concept of the story seems strange, the blending of primate behavior and the human capacity for communication functioned well in depicting this tale. Actors yelled and leaped around the stage to portray ape rage and used intricate dialogue for plotting, arguing and displaying woe.

Vishal Patel (’09C), who plays Dandi, said the director ensured both ape and human characteristics had an equal balance in each character.

“At times, the director would tell us what to do, others he would tell us to just go full ape,” Patel said.

De Waal said the play’s significance came from its unique view of where human and ape behavior intersect.

“The play shows ape behavior through a human lens, or the other way around,” de Waal wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel. “We all recognize the patterns we see as human, but now can see them against the background of ape behavior. By mixing the two perspectives, the show makes us think about our evolutionary heritage in a way that no straight behavioral comparison does.”

The actors exhibited intimacy on stage. The comfort and vivacity of the characters in the frequent scenes of monkey courtship made the scenes enjoyable and convincing. The audience laughed as Emory students and faculty alike pawed at one another.

The strongest performances of the show were delivered by Fristoe, Cook and Micley.

Fristoe’s performance as the alpha male, Luit, is intense and calculated. During a scene in which Nikki is having a nightmare, Fristoe, as the ghost of Luit, delivers a remarkable monologue while covered in blood and ape guts.

Cook, as Mama, fulfills the roll of the loving but stern matriarch. However, when Luit is killed, her rage is unparalleled by anyone in the show.

Micley, as the juvenile renegade Nikki, captures the difficult role of a chimpanzee with a dim-witted exterior but a complex emotional inside.

An excellent musical score and stage decorations complimented the amazing performances. The stage not only contained creepy ape gargoyles, but also its own functioning fountain.

The audience received the play with many laughs and even a few tears. “I love the balance in the characters’ elements of human and primate characteristics,” college freshman Aaron Bauer said.

College freshman Roberto Ocon appreciated the symbolism of the showand the individuality of each character.

The stage direction and acting are the most well-done aspects of the play. However, two hours of monkey dialogue was a little drawn out. Audience members fidgeted as they waited for the end of the prolonged conclusion.

The writers of the play contributed an unnecessary subplot of two humans who take care of the apes which were merely functions to rehash the already blatant themes of the play.

Overall, the acting was impressive, but some actors stayed in “chimp mode” when their character required them to revert back to their more serious human nature.

Nonetheless, on the whole, the play is entertaining and unique. While the characters being depicted are silly and primitive, the core of the story, an intense dramatic struggle, is displayed intensely and endearingly. When it comes to illustrating the dramatic struggle of a group of chimpanzees, Hominid certainly doesn’t monkey around.

— Contact Benjamin Laccetti.