Students read to showcase new plays in Festival
Katie Mosher '12
Issue date: 2/18/09 Section: Arts & Culture
This year's New Plays Festival premieres a record 14 student written, directed and acted plays that, in the words of Theater Professor David Fox, "run the gamut: tragedy, comedy, absurdist and everything in between." From Sunday, March 1 to Thursday, March 5, these plays will be performed in triple and double billing nights in the Kresge Experimental Theater.
The first festival was held in 2003, upon the arrival of Associate Professor of English and Playwright-in-Residence Charlotte Meehan, who joined forces with Fox to complete the project. The New Plays Festival has now become an annual event that brings out large crowds, due to the involvement of numerous students, from both inside and outside of the theater department.
The student playwriting process begins in the fall, when playwrights in Meehan's Advanced Playwriting class begin work on 20-50 page pieces to be performed during the festival. The students use the fall semester to write and perfect their plays.
The playwrights then work with Fox's Intermediate Directing students, some of which may also be playwrights. Each director is responsible for two plays.
This year's casting for the plays was "a crazy process," according to director Danielle Ricci '09, as around 50 students turned out to audition. This excited group varied as much as the plays, encompassing athletes, academics, and even seniors who had not been involved in theater since high school. Turning out for the auditions, of course, were "the usual theatre geeks." (Professor Fox's words, not mine!)
Each performance night has been carefully constructed to provide contrasting tones but also to bring cohesiveness to the audience.
For instance, on the first day Emma Thesenvitz's '09 tale of the untimely death of the star of a freak show and her completely normal replacement, Down and Out and Off the Side, is paired with Sean Clarke's '10 farce Toilet Seat Harper, which resolves around the "disturbed artist" and those who keep him miserable, and ends with a "surprise" says director Marissa Bergman '11. These two plays reflect the comedy of the festival, though many genres are represented.
For instance, Danny Hoffman's '09 Fairfax is "an absurdist, Beckett-esqe 'out of reality' but completely relatable work" comments Ricci.
Other plays, such as Ross Millard's '11 tragedy Progress, revolve around different themes.
Though each play varies in length, all are about 30 to 60 minutes long. Fox and Hoffman do say that the format is very accommodating to audiences and that you are free to come and go as you please in between plays.
Clarke calls the festival a great experience that allows for much artistic experimentation.
Fox notes that it is truly an event that attracts all of campus.
Meehan describes the New Plays Festival as "a very exciting week of plays that rivals much of what I see in downtown Manhattan," so come out and support Wheaton's playwrights, directors and actors!
The first festival was held in 2003, upon the arrival of Associate Professor of English and Playwright-in-Residence Charlotte Meehan, who joined forces with Fox to complete the project. The New Plays Festival has now become an annual event that brings out large crowds, due to the involvement of numerous students, from both inside and outside of the theater department.
The student playwriting process begins in the fall, when playwrights in Meehan's Advanced Playwriting class begin work on 20-50 page pieces to be performed during the festival. The students use the fall semester to write and perfect their plays.
The playwrights then work with Fox's Intermediate Directing students, some of which may also be playwrights. Each director is responsible for two plays.
This year's casting for the plays was "a crazy process," according to director Danielle Ricci '09, as around 50 students turned out to audition. This excited group varied as much as the plays, encompassing athletes, academics, and even seniors who had not been involved in theater since high school. Turning out for the auditions, of course, were "the usual theatre geeks." (Professor Fox's words, not mine!)
Each performance night has been carefully constructed to provide contrasting tones but also to bring cohesiveness to the audience.
For instance, on the first day Emma Thesenvitz's '09 tale of the untimely death of the star of a freak show and her completely normal replacement, Down and Out and Off the Side, is paired with Sean Clarke's '10 farce Toilet Seat Harper, which resolves around the "disturbed artist" and those who keep him miserable, and ends with a "surprise" says director Marissa Bergman '11. These two plays reflect the comedy of the festival, though many genres are represented.
For instance, Danny Hoffman's '09 Fairfax is "an absurdist, Beckett-esqe 'out of reality' but completely relatable work" comments Ricci.
Other plays, such as Ross Millard's '11 tragedy Progress, revolve around different themes.
Though each play varies in length, all are about 30 to 60 minutes long. Fox and Hoffman do say that the format is very accommodating to audiences and that you are free to come and go as you please in between plays.
Clarke calls the festival a great experience that allows for much artistic experimentation.
Fox notes that it is truly an event that attracts all of campus.
Meehan describes the New Plays Festival as "a very exciting week of plays that rivals much of what I see in downtown Manhattan," so come out and support Wheaton's playwrights, directors and actors!
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