Review: Big Feelings Delivers a Chilling Day of Elementary School

The too-big-smile. The pressurized twinkle in the eye. The voice pitched to the gods. If elementary school teachers aren’t actively hiding something nefarious under all this manic cheer, they have the infrastructure to do so at a moment’s notice.

And still, you don’t suspect a thing at Big Feelings, Ryan Drake’s immersive one-person play at the Cell’s Gallery Space. Instead, performer Julia Greer dissolves into the character of Ms. Joy, a model of warmth and rigor who greets her first graders (us) with their chosen salutation (high-five or fist bump) and the dulcet tones of methodical instructions (cubby…desk…morning work).

Draw a picture of a time you lost control. That’s our first task in this pastel wonderland. The problem student, Nico, reveals himself right away. He’s smart and creative but averse to this classroom’s “quiet thumb” rule of order (he’s the one student we can’t see, but he’s always by Ms. Joy’s side).

Between the show’s title and the mounting power struggle between frustrated educator and precocious 7-year-old, all signs are pointing to Big Feelings being a showcase for how emotions boil over on both sides of the school equation. After all, what New Yorker hasn’t seen the leaked video of an enraged Success Academy teacher sending one of her first graders to the “calm-down chair” while ripping her math paper in her face? Ms. Joy’s classroom even sports the same sinister dot rug. That must be where this is going.

Guess again. Big Feelings takes U-turns that could never be predicted and should not be spoiled if you want to get the full impact of its menacing and claustrophobic experience. Let’s just say today is Ms. Joy’s last day teaching first grade and the story behind her early retirement gets doled out piecemeal over a day’s worth of lessons. Reading, writing, arithmetic, “chit-chat-café.” No matter the activity, conversation seems to always circle back to Ms. Joy’s father … and a mysterious soccer game.

Director Sammy Zeisel smoothly re-creates an entire school day in 90 minutes with lighting and sound cues that add impressive variety and intrigue to this ultra-confined space. But as every teacher knows, a lesson plan is only as good as the hands it’s in.

Greer is the reason this wild concept works. She is completely committed to the bit, weaving between drama and dark comedy (if there’s even a distinction here) and performing Ms. Joy’s utter unraveling with a perilous amount of eye contact. Would this woman ever be allowed back in a classroom for such a swan song? Perhaps not. But suspending disbelief to that level isn’t an issue.

The bigger question nagging at you after Big Feelings is “why?” Why tell this story in this environment? It’s a theatrical nostalgia bomb that will light up your neurons with fruit snacks and handwriting paper. But as the story drifts farther from the classroom, the environment starts to feel more like a tool for segues than its own narrative driving force.

Even so, the space can’t help but shape every piece of information Ms. Joy decides to share with her students. As she crumbles, so do the Melissa & Doug-furnished illusions that surround her. Come to think of it, a classroom might just be the worst possible place to meet your teacher’s inner child.