Before we dive into the themes and meanings from the play, we will first talk about the overall reception from the audience after the play concluded. As it was opening night, the excitement levels were at an all-time high, as nobody had seen the performance before. When the play concluded, the audience gave a standing ovation towards the actors and crew for putting on such an incredible performance. I managed to sit down and ask a member of the audience, Mason Barrett, about his first reactions after viewing the play. "It's pretty great. Super funny and pretty thought provoking too." It seems that many other viewers had a similar reaction too, as it was all smiles and laughter leaving the theater. 

The set of "Escobar's Hippo" inside Westhoff Theater

        In the play, there were many characters called, "Towns people" that acted as the government throughout the story. Much of the comedy was derived from these characters acting like headless chickens, and not making either good decisions, or any decisions at all. During my conversation with Alejandra, I asked her about how those scenes resonated with current issues that our government has faced these past few months. "I did want to approach it at the same time from the point of view that whatever may or may not be happening within our own government is not uncommon and is not something that hasn't happened throughout history all over the world". She continued on to talk about how she believed that it would be more effective to highlight through the play that governments that haven't always put the people first has happened not just within our own country, but in others too, such as Columbia, where the play takes place. Alejandra also talked about a particular scene in the play, when the characters discussed human nature as a wheel, where events continue to happen again and again, unless humanity steps in to address problems that they face, whether that be bad government bodies or like in the play, hippos taking over the world. 

        As we were nearing the end of our conversation, I wanted to ask the big question, what was the message that you wanted to leave with the audience? After all, the play involved humans turning into hippos to take over the world, what could be an important message from that? Alejandra said, "What I want people to walk away from this is recognizing the hippos within themselves and within their immediate surroundings". She continued on to talk about the hippos acting as symbolism for corruption. When humans would turn into hippos in the play, it was meaning that they abandoned their humanity and became horrible to one another because it seemed an easier road to follow than to struggle on the right path to be free and happy.