This year’s upper-form fall play was Adam Szymkowicz’s “Hearts Like Fists,” a light-hearted comedy about broken hearts and courageous love.

This year’s cast, of only seven actors, became tight quickly. With a limited number of roles, this play was challenging, since there was “a lot to learn, [a big chunk of] lines,” says Mr. Geoffrey Stewart of the English department and the director of the play. Having done some older plays and musicals recently, Mr. Stewart thinks “it’s important to mix in some very recent plays,” which was part of why he chose this play.

The villain in the play, Doctor X, has been sneaking into houses and killing loving couples with lethal injections. Having had a failed relationship before, the doctor loses the capability of love thereafter and starts his revenge by murdering lovers. Although he appears to be a traditional evil character, he is “by no means a two dimensional villain,” said his portrayer, actor Daniel Fung ’16. Stewart comments, “His pain comes from the fact that he was in love. But after his heart is broken, he feels like he could no longer love.” The mixture of desire for and incapability of love gives him a twisted personality. Says Fung, “In his mind, he sees his acts of murder as a kind gesture, he kills for a reason, to preserve the passion that lovers have for each other in the prime of their relationships, so that they will not end up alone and tormented like he is.”

Fighting Doctor X were the “Crimefighters,” three nurses by day and warriors by night, played by Kaori Yasunaga ’17, Nam Pham ’16 and Shannon Ambrose ’16. These parts called for quite a bit of physical action and combat from these masked crusaders. In order to “make stage combat look more exciting,” said Stewart, “all of the actors took some basic stage combat classes at the beginning of this fall. And the upperform actors worked on the specific fights for the play [later in the season].” Moreover, all the actors took some improvisation lessons with Ms. Denise Howard from admissions, which “helped them with skill development for acting,” says Mr. Stewart.

The other male character in this play is Peter, a heart surgeon who is always rejected by girls and therefore has always been working on his artificial heart, hoping to replace his broken heart with a fresh one. In this play, “the function of the heart is equivalent to its capacity for love, [which is a] major plot line of the story,” said Stewart. One of the most powerful lines in the play is Peter’s repetition of “Beat, heart, beat!” which he shouts out while trying to get the heart work. To Teddy Voyer ’16, who played Peter, “The line, ‘Beat,’ can be anything from an angry command to an exasperated and desperate attempt at getting the heart to start.”

Playing opposite Voyer was Elizabeth O’Hazo ’17 as Lisa, a charming and brave girl who has rejected a lot of people but starts changing after she meets Peter. Said O’Hazo, “her monologues about rejection [in the play] are really powerful.” All the struggles and changes Lisa undergoes throughout the story “made my part a lot of fun.”

The play took place over two weekends to enthusiastic audiences, in between which the cast got to celebrate their success with a trip to New York City to meet the playwright and see a Broadway show.