Olivet’s student-led theatre program, Green Room Theatre, performed its Winter Workshops on November 14 and 15, 2025. There were three amazing shows: “The Yellow Wallpaper”, “We Can’t Talk About This”, and “A Monster Calls”. The second show, “We Can’t Talk About This,” was directed by Katie Devries and Lauren Neel.
About the Play
“We Can’t Talk About This” is a one-act play that deals with the complexity of domestic violence.
“It really highlights the gray in domestic abuse,” DeVries said. “The abuser is typically someone the victim loves, and that’s why it’s so difficult to navigate. You want to get them help, but you also want to get yourself help and stay safe.”
Between every major scene, the directors chose to add shorter transition scenes. “Katie and I added scene transitions to fill in the storyline,” Neel said. “It’s obviously a great story, but since it’s so short, it needed to be fleshed out a little bit more.” These transitions didn’t have any dialogue, but each one packed an emotional punch and added extra context for the audience.
“My favorite moment is probably when Jody’s sunglasses get taken off and we see her black eye fully.”
Katie Devries
Cast list:
- Jody – Ella Carder
- Emma – Bri Kanable
- Laurie – Leah Baumhauer
- Pete – Jace Hunt
- Cali – Abby Diaz
- Candace – Abby Siri
- Dennis – Anthony Roebuck
- Ensemble – Vinnie Gincauskas, Piper McWhorter, and Chloe Cunnington
Directing “We Can’t Talk About This”
“When you think of theatre, you don’t necessarily think of directing,” Neel said, “I think that directing is such a unique opportunity because I do have a love for being on stage and backstage, but I think directing gives students such an opportunity for growth. If directing is something you’re interested in, this is the place to do it.”
This isn’t the first show that DeVries and Neel have directed together. Recently, they also co-directed the 2024 Broadway Review.
“That was a fantastic experience, and this one is too! Me and Lauren are such good friends outside of a professional setting,” DeVries said. “We’ve started using the phrase ‘we can’t be friends,’ meaning we can only talk about the show. Otherwise, we just yap for far too long.”
DeVries and Neel faced many challenges when directing the play, mostly due to the scheduling conflicts that all of their performers faced. Many of them were in multiple one-acts and a part of other extracurricular activities. Neel said that scheduling is “the biggest challenge with doing shows in college.” This is especially true for Neel. Not only was she co-directing “We Can’t Talk About This,” but she was also performing in “The Yellow Wallpaper.”
Both DeVries and Neel were very happy with how well the show went.
“It was amazing!” DeVries said after the first show. “I’m so proud of my cast and crew and I’m really glad I was asked to tell this story.”
Talk About It
It is important to be open to talking about abuse.
“I think the whole point of the show is domestic violence can and should be talked about,” Neel said. Neel said the characters—Jody, Emma, and Laurie—all received support from the people they trusted to talk to and that navigating situations like these is so much better with support, so talking about it is one of the best ways to help.
