If there was ever a play that spoke to today’s generation, “Raised in Captivity” is it. The sarcasm, the humor, the charming absurdities of the human condition – it’s all there. And all delivered with Seinfeld timing and Sedaris’ biting wit.

It’s only fitting, then, that the play, written by the hot, up-and-coming New York playwright, Nicky Silver, would be produced, directed and acted entirely by SF State students.

You won’t find a faculty member running things when Role Players, SF State’s student theater club, rolls out its staging of “Raised in Captivity,” starting Feb. 5 and running through Feb. 15 at the Studio Theater in the Creative Arts Building.

Still, this is hardly a show about nothing. At its heart, this dark comedy, directed by SF State senior Mike Fisher, is the tale of a modern dysfunctional family. We get a glimpse into the twisted family as the play’s protagonist, Sebastian, played with skilled comic timing by Aaron Bruer, retraces his childhood, including memories of birthday parties characterized as “pageants of hysteria,” which are to blame or explain his current condition of unhappiness.

“It comes off as being funny,” said Stephanie DeMott, who plays Sebastian’s needy psychologist, Hillary. “But there’s a lot of heart in it. It’s very human. It’s about people asking questions and trying to figure out what went wrong.”

DeMott says “Raised in Captivity” was a perfect match for Role Players. A panel of Role Players’ club officers chose the work out of 12 submitted last October. Fisher had a clear overarching vision for the work, said DeMott, who is also president of the club.

It’s also the kind of play that stands in contrast to the theater department’s Fall 2003/Spring 2004 program. Because Role Players is entirely student run, its productions offer a good sense of the kind of contemporary theater students want to participate in or see on stage.

“We looked to see what it was the department wasn’t offering the students,” said DeMott. “So we were looking for young, comedy and upbeat.”

The acerbic play opens with Sebastian reading in a cemetery, a tranquil enough setting until his twin sister Bernadette, played adeptly by SF State senior Sarah Hernandez, approaches with her captive and crazed dentist husband Kip, played by D.R. Hanson. They’ve recently buried their mother, the victim of a rogue showerhead. But that is the least of Sebastian’s problems. He’s living off credit cards to pay his rent, he’s going through severe writer’s block, he’s led a monastic life, not by choice, for more than 10 years, and he can’t seem to stomach his sister, much less her shrill voice, for more than a few minutes. The scene vacillates between the absurd and very funny to the somber and just plain sad.

“Sebastian has lost connection with those around him and himself,” explained Fisher, who most recently directed and wrote the theater department’s production of “Prospect for Great Dead Women,” last fall. “He left home early.

His lover died of AIDS. Now, he’s had to grow up alone. When I say all this stuff, it doesn’t sound funny. Which is what I love about the play – when the humor finally breaks, the sadness comes through like a knife.”

Fisher describes it as “theater of cruelty.” No doubt, Sebastian is insolent at best. Yet we still laugh with him and, more importantly, feel for him.
“You can’t hate these characters,” said Fisher. “It’s like Gene Hackman’s character in the ‘Royal Tennenbaums.’ He does all these terrible things but you still like him. That’s how Sebastian and those people were raised, which was without love. So they grew into this sarcasm.”

Though he wouldn’t describe himself as a cruel person, Fisher says he connected with the New York playwright’s script the first time he read it, and from the start he wanted to produce the play for Role Players.

“I always wanted to do a Role Players production,” said Fisher. “My favorite shows have been Players Club productions. I think the student directors are really in touch with the actors. You know what they can do.”

And Fisher says he knew what student actors could do for “Raised in Captivity.” He saw it first as an actor’s play.

“It lets actors explore all different levels, that is, every actor goes on a journey that defies stereotypes,” said Fisher. “With this play gay men are played by straight men and straight played by gay men — they all reach beyond their type.”

Hillary, Sebastian’s therapist, is a perfect example of this. Sebastian has been seeking her services for years and when he informs her that he’s decided to stop seeking her therapy, the tables suddenly turn, and Hillary is the blubbering patient with dwindling pride.

“I don’t have romantic feelings,” she declares in one scene, refuting her unhealthy attachment. “I have ethics.”

It smacks of the sort of ironic humor many of us have developed an ear for, including the 35-year-old playwright, Silver. But beneath the surface of “Raised in Captivity” lurks a more touching inquiry into the human condition. Not bad for a student production of a comedy about the “American nightmare.”