A disheveled blonde walks down the center aisle of the Riverside Theatre. Climbing onto the stage, she looks around as if lost. Her eyes focus on the white bathtub upstage and slightly off center. There’s water in it and a half empty glass of wine next to it. She strips naked and climbs in.

Thus began Columbia Stages’ production of Big Love tonight. The hundred and ten minute play was incredibly cathartic—the actors launched dishware onto scenery, sang “You Don’t Own Me” using a shoe as a microphone, threw themselves into the large sandpit onstage in frustration…and allowed the audience to feel a whole slew of emotions that we don’t normally get to feel.

The element of catharsis took place primarily through the portrayal of the three brides Lydia, Thyona, and Olympia. Actress Jehan O. Young was able to be both comedic and dramatically powerful in her portrayal of Thyona, which allowed the audience to laugh at her, hate her, and love her all at the same time.

Rachael Joffred’s Olympia did much the same thing. Instead of being the token flimsy girly girl of the play, Joffred tapped into that willingly naïve part of all of us—yes, guys too—that wants to be taken care of.

And then of course there’s Lydia, the only bride who falls in love with her groom. As Lydia, actress Noa Rotem, carries the audience’s sympathy throughout the play. We identify with her from the moment she climbs into the bathtub, exhausted and lost. We fall in love with Nikos—her groom played by the adorable Gabel Eiben—as she falls in love with him. We understand why she must betray her sisters even though she doesn’t want to.

But it’s the eighteen non-speaking brides and grooms who steal the show in the last five minutes. There’s a culmination of the love, hatred, rage, and desperation that had been boiling up throughout the play. The result is wildly dramatic and vastly different from anything I’ve seen before.

But the success of the show can’t just be attributed to the cast. From Lighting Designer Mike Inwood’s colorful lighting, which complemented the action perfectly, to Costume Designer Amy Pedigo-Otto’s beautiful wedding gowns, which were so wonderfully abused, every piece of this play came together to fulfill director Pirronne Yousefzadeh’s vision.

As a third year MFA Directing Candidate, Big Love was Yousefzadeh’s thesis production. She took Chuck Mee’s multi-layered, multi-dimensioned script and brought it to life with the passion and energy that it required. A promising commencement into the world of professional theatre.

There will be two more showings on Saturday. Get tickets from TIC and go see Big Love if you have the chance. It’s a play not to be missed.