By Maya Morris

The theater group BETCo began the preview of their show “Netflux” with a girl sitting in a cafe with her laptop. The girl, named Mel, is surrounded by chaos caused by drama between multiple different characters. Mel manages to finds her escape in the comfort of the website Netflix, which is where her adventure begins.

The full show, which was written by students in BETCo, will be performed Jan. 14 at 12 p.m in the Roberts-Dubbs Auditorium.

In the show, Mel becomes a character in the popular show Gossip Girl. She finds herself in the world of the Upper East Side, where attire and money are the only values. We see the characters dressed in suits and designer dresses, accessorizing with the most literate vocabulary. Unfortunately, all this glamour only lasts so long.

Mel is soon caught in between the scandal of Chuck and Blair. In the end she finds herself threatened by the powerful Blair, which concludes her adventures into the upper class New York lifestyle. The skit concludes with Mel back in the cafe with her Netflix  account open.

Through the contrast between her real world drama and the characters of the television show, the director seemed to want to explore the intersection between our reality and entertainment. The worlds that entertainment create can be over dramatic but also are not far from what we experience.

Entertainment also appeals to its audience and can make people crave the unrealistic lifestyle of the many upper class characters. By showing Mel entering the Gossip Girl world the actors were able to expose the desire to live a television life that we’d all secretly love to be a part of.

Although the plot was a bit mind boggling, the acting was the cherry on top of the performance. The exaggeration of snob and ego made it believable that they were actually raised in a snooty neighborhood in Manhattan. Overall the preview consisted of a well thought out plot, and more importantly incredible acting.

Maya Morris can be contacted at [email protected]