Deerhoof: Bay area band rocks out in the ’Sco Monday night.

Director Jon Levin stands on one side of the ’Sco, his arms flailing over his head. “Oh! A rhinoceros!” screams his cast, packed tightly together on the stage. He runs to the other side of the room. “Oh! A rhinoceros!” they shout again. It is only nights away from the opening of the cast’s endeavor, Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros, and the actors are jumping with energy, running to Levin with questions, moving about the stage, doing impromptu dances during breaks. This is a tight cast.

As a first-year student and a newcomer to directing at Oberlin, Levin has made quite an impression on his cast. He’s managed to produce a full-length, entirely student-created show with a budget higher than any student production this year. And that’s not all. After months of fundraising and searching for a performance space, the group finally made their way into the ’Sco, a small venue, but one the cast feels will suffice, creating an unusual theatrical environment.

Levin has long been a fan of Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist drama and chose this particular piece for its political timeliness. The play is set in provincial France in the early 1900s. Inhabitants are shocked as they witness people among them beginning to turn into rhinoceroses. Gradually more and more people transform, many accepting their fate, eager to become a part of the growing cult of rhinos. Eventually only one man remains in opposition to the stampeding animals.

While comedic in nature, this farcical play is also dark. Many of the actors expressed the challenge of creating a comedic character while portraying the seriousness of the play’s message. Rhinoceros is no typical production, and its significance is as apparent today as it was when in response to fascism in the 20th century. “People blindly following other people, that is what Ionesco was against. That is what this play is about,” Levin remarks.

To express the importance of such a production, Levin shared an anecdote. During his translations of the production, Ionesco encountered many conflicting reactions to the show. In Germany, the play was received as a tragedy, mirroring the spread of Nazism and the defeat of the human spirit. Romanian audiences viewed the story as a heroic tale, depicting the opposition of one person against tyranny. Russian audiences were concerned. The rhinoceros in the play would have to be changed; it could not be misconstrued as a symbol for communism. To this Ionesco replied, “But there are rhinoceroses everywhere.”

The ’Sco. Saturday, at 6:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and Monday at 8 p.m. $4 with OCID, $5 without, $1 more at the door. Tickets sold at Wilder front desk.