Student experimental theatre group Thyrsus opened a production of “Pullman, WA” on Friday night, directed by senior Madison Lee. A short play, “Pullman” consists of only one act, which is by turns whimsical, painful, obscene, existential and simply bizarre.

The play began in imitation of a lecture; there was no fourth wall to speak of. Three speakers directly addressed audience members, even walking among them at some points. Each of the speakers attempted to comfort the audience but eventually berated them. Two of the speakers were dressed in a businesslike fashion; one was wearing ostentatious pink clothes and glittery makeup.

Actors freshmen Sarah Camacho and Alexander Hewlett and sophomore Dom Bottom take the stage in the Lopata Multipurpose Room during a performance of “Pullman, WA.” The one-act play focuses on the question “How should we live?” often giving contradictory and comedic answers to the question.

The play was accompanied by a sort of pseudo-PowerPoint presentation: a projection of images, often of stock photos or WikiHow illustrations, flicked behind the characters as they spoke. The maneuver accentuated both the absurdity of the show and underscored the supposed professionalism of the characters, and was a unique way of integrating media into a theatrical context.

The content of the characters’ lectures involves harshly condemning thinking patterns and life habits that aren’t conducive to happiness—it is a criticism of self-criticism. At some points, it’s impossible to tell if the speakers are addressing the audience or one another. Their speeches quickly devolved from confident lecture platitudes into desperate raging, shocking vulnerability and chants of nonsense with shifting light colors.

Despite this seeming hodgepodge of theatrical elements, the play was surprisingly cohesive. Under Lee’s guiding directorial hand, actors freshmen Sarah Camacho and Alexander Hewlett and sophomore Dom Bottom gave impassioned, sincere performances conveying tremendous emotional nuance while simultaneously plumbing the depths of the human condition.

While containing undeniably comic elements, “Pullman” also had moments that were exceedingly difficult to watch. The audience was forced to bear witness to (sometimes gory) descriptions of bodily pain, ranging from mildly discomforting to excruciating. This suggested a connection between the physical confines of the body and the psychological turmoil that is omnipresent in postmodern America.

The fundamental question that the entire play revolves around—How should we live?—never gets answered to anyone’s satisfaction. Although the characters make claims of understanding the proper way to live, they are confronted with the realization that their philosophies don’t hold water. The play captures the fundamentally human experience of being lost in the depths of existential suffering.