Taking the Davis Auditorium stage November 18 and 19 is “The Whale,” which is a play about a man named Charlie who is on his deathbed and wants to reconcile with his daughter. “The Whale” is based on a 2014 book by the same name, written by Samuel D. Hunter. Senior theater major Caleb Townley will be starring as Charlie in the upcoming play.

“The story takes place in the 2010s and is about a man named Charlie in his last week of life,” Townley said. “Charlie is reconciling the past with all of his people in his life; especially his daughter, even at the cost of legality.”

The play’s main character is obese, and many themes in the play revolve around this point. Some themes in the play involve fatphobia, kindness, and empathy.

“Charlie is 600 pounds, cannot leave his apartment, and is limited to a couch,” Townley said. “A lot of the details are involved with Samuel D. Hunter’s life. The themes of how we treat gay people and fat people are talked about a lot by Hunter, and it can be very sad.”

Katie Davis, professor of theater and director of production, said she chose the play based on the themes that Samuel D. Hunter wanted to promote.

“I read about 60 play scripts, and I think that this is the best play that I read,” Davis said. “I identified with the main character a lot, in that Charlie has been an educator for 17 years, and ironically this is my 17th year teaching as well. Charlie also has a teenage child, which I do too.”

What a person is on the outside does not necessarily mean that is who they are on the inside, according to Davis. Townley agreed with Davis’s statement.

“Charlie is physically ‘disgusting,’ but I would not use that word to describe him. Physically he might be big and smelly, and he knows this, but he recognizes that inside he’s beautiful,” Townley said. “Just because someone’s big doesn’t mean that they are lazy or a disgusting person. The size of the person you are does not define who you are as a person.”

Davis echoed Townley’s statement on the size of a person.

“We as a society are fat-phobic, and we are less likely to want to be close and kind to fat people,” Davis said. “A comparison is ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame.’ The grotesque exists in the world so that we may understand what beauty really is.”

Townley is excited about his part as Charlie in “The Whale.”

“I love being in this play,” Townley said. “I’m having so much fun. It is an emotionally taxing play, but I would not back out of this role, even if it cost me. I’m very excited to see the reactions that people have coming to this show.”

The curtains will open on Friday, November 18th and Saturday, November 19th, at 7:30 pm at the Davis Auditorium. The doors will open at 7 pm. Admission is free for all USAO students with their student ID.

Paul Tointigh is a third-year Communications major at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.