Subway Stories Come Alive in “The Station”

By Alex Del Cueto

“The Station” is a devised 30-minute play made for the theater and performance senior project festival as a senior project for actors, Rachel Skennion and Daniel Pierre, and director Kat Tobits. The show is a collection of seven scenes depicting different types of people you may encounter on the subway.

“‘The Station’ is something that brings together people of all walks of life and celebrates their stories,” said Pierre. “Being able to celebrate where we come and where we’re going.”

The idea for their project started with Pierre and Tobits in the junior seminar course. Pierre came up with the idea for a play about two people talking throughout the night on a fire escape. Then, once he found out about the movie “Before Sunrise” from Tobits and saw the story of two strangers meeting on the train and then eventually having to go their separate ways. After that, “The Station” was born.

When the project was approved and auditions were held, Skennion was then cast and added as a collaborator on the project.

The show opens with a scene of people slowly walking onto the subway platform, not speaking to each other or even acknowledging their surroundings until a rat shows up, causing everyone to exclaim that they hate New York.

The five main actors of the station in the opening scene all separate yet together.

The next scene is called “No Time No See” and begins with Nicole, alone at the station, receiving a phone call from her friend Michelle. Gabrielle then came and sat down next to her, and then, while eavesdropping on Nicole’s cover station, she recognized that they knew each other from college.

They have reconnected for the first time in six years and have both landed their dream jobs, and Nicole is getting married. The scene ends with them realizing they have a mutual friend and end up coming to her house together.

The moment Gabrielle (Rachel Skennion) realizes that Nicole (Bella Davidson) went to Columbia University at the same time.

Gabrielle and Nicole walked onto the train together, off to visit their mutual friend.

The next scene is called  “Showtime,” which shows the life of a subway busker named Lil’ Money Maker. Pierre and Billy Isidro really wanted to write a rap for the show in order to highlight the importance of it in subway culture. 

Lil’ Money Maker’s rap highlights the struggles many artists face in New York City and difficulties in surviving while looking for jobs.

Lil’ Money Maker (Billy Isidro) rapped to the audience with a microphone and a karaoke machine.

Lil’ Money maker being handed a flower from the Flower Guy (Ben Koeberle), who appears in every scene as a through line.

Scene three was called “Runways.” This scene tells the story of a group of college kids drunkenly coming home from a party and retelling some of the events that occurred. 

They then encounter a runaway bride who ends up lining up with one of the college kids, crying because his ex was trying to make him jealous. 

From left to right: Maria (Lizette Padua), Caroline (Rachel Skennion), Franklin (Daniel Pierre) and Peter (Billy Isidro). Franklin is crying because his ex was dancing with other guys and ignoring him, and his friends are drunkenly trying to console him.

Leah (Bella Davidson) fell on the ground sobbing after running out from her wedding because her fiancé was cheating on her with her best friend and maid of honor.

Mila (Kat Tobits) slapped some sense into Franklin to get him to stop crying about his ex.

The following scene was “Lost Child,” where this young couple, Anna and Derek, got into an argument over having kids, when suddenly a lost child appeared. 

Anna ended up leaving to try and call the child’s mother, leaving Derek to deal with the lost child and confront his fear of having children.

Derek (Daniel Pierre) and Anna (Lizette Padua) fought because she is ready to have kids, but Derek was not ready because he didn't want to end up like his father.

Charlie (Billy Isidro) and Derek were playing eye spy as a way to help Charlie calm down until his mother came back.

Up next was a scene depicting the bond between people from two different generations called “Timeless.” Tina and Michelle were filming a TikTok dance when an older lady named Leann offered them cookies. 

Tina is suspicious, but Michelle takes the cookie and gets Tina to join in. The three ladies end up talking about how Leann and her son had a falling out and how she still wants to foster a relationship with her grandson.

Michelle helped by saying that she’s better than the people who don’t try after making a mistake, and that she should just wait and see what happens.

Tina (Lizette Padua) and Michelle (Rachel Skennion) propped their phone on the subway bench as they began to film their TikTok.

The Flower Guy hands Leann (Bella Davidson) forget-me-nots after she finishes telling the girls her troubles.

During a transition scene, Max Tandy proposed to Natalie Kragle in the subway station when Kragle asks them to propose again at the art museum, where it's more romantic.

In the final scene of the show Andie and Jaiden are two strangers who passed each other in the subway station. They were then transported to a dreamlike world.

“It was a really cool scene to do,” said Skennion. “It was like a dream type thing when a cute love story occurs.”

The two characters dance to “Someone New” by Hozier in a dance that was choreographed by Skennion and Pierre themselves.

Jaiden (Dainel Pierre) and Andie (Rachel Skennion) taught each other moves of each of their respective styles of dance.

Before Andie leaves the station, Jaiden rushes to hand her a flower as a way to remember him.

Tobits, Pierre and Skennion took their final senior bow.

“[Producing ‘The Station’] was kinda crazy, it was a lot of hard work, but it was rewarding,” said Tobits. “It was kind of surreal producing my own piece. I've done it before, just not to this scale.”