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Department ofTheatre and Dance

Winter One-Act Play Festival 2017

Faculty Advisor: Jeffrey Bracco

Fess Parker Studio Theatre

Feb. 18-19, 2017

Saturday & Sunday 2pm and 8pm

Theatre arts majors direct diverse collection of one-act plays.

2pm

Directed by Grant Granado

Feeding the Moonfish

By Barbara Wiechmann

Romance; infatuation; a bond that can’t be broken. No matter our idea of the ideal relationship, the first model any of us has is the relationship between our parents. But when that relationship is damaged and distorted, how do we define “soulmates” for ourselves? Feeding the Moonfish stretches our preconceptions of such relationships through a bizarre conversation at a saltwater lake.

Feeding the Moonfish is produced by special arrangement with the Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois.

 

Directed by Drew Lazzeri

Lives of the Saints

By David Ives

What differentiates theater from other arts, from film, or literature? According to Shakespearean actor, author, and producer Ben Crystal, the difference is play. In an English department you may study the works of Shakespeare but when a live audience and live actors congregate we call it a play. In Lives of the Saints, David Ives has provided a lighthearted look into the lives of two women who are a far cry from the dramatic heroes and villains of Shakespeare, or the names in the Litany of the Saints. Amidst the fun, Ives makes the point that these two women’s hard work make their community possible. He draws an analogy to theater, where the audience is rarely aware of the army of stagehands, designers, and technicians that make our playing possible. Many of them should be emulated as if they were canonized, and this piece is my way of acknowledging the countless Saints-Behind-the-Scenes who have done so much for me over the years.

Lives of the Saints is presented by special arrangement with Dramatist Play Service, Inc., New York.

 

Directed by Cameron Wells

A Sunny Morning

By Serafin & Joaquin Alvarez Quintero

Director's artistic statement

A Sunny Morning warms my heart, makes me dream and dares me to imagine the impossible is possible. With its mix of swashbuckling, poetry, memory, quiet humor, romance and septuagenarians, I’m confident it will do the same for you! I invite you to close your eyes. Feel the warm sun and the cool breeze on your face. See the birds, the trees, the grass. Open your heart. Remember what it’s like to be in love. Enjoy.

A Sunny Morning is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

 

8pm

Directed by Camila Biaggi

An Abridged version of She Gets Naked in the End

By Briandaniel Oglesby

“They say, ‘find a purpose in your life and live it.’ But, sometimes, it is only after you have lived that you recognize your life had a purpose, and likely one you never had in mind.”
-- Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed

What is the true nature of regret? Why are we left at the end with thoughts of what could have been, what should have been? As the play begins, we find a woman haunted by her past, by stories that never found a closing chapter. So often, we distance ourselves from our own stories out of fear. Fear of disappointment in ourselves and in others. Fear that the answers we find won’t be what we want them to be. We build for ourselves walls that protect us from the hard truths, choosing apathy as a means to escape the experience of facing those realities we do not wish to acknowledge. But escape is impossible.

What is this woman left with at the end of the story? Does she regret the struggles she has faced? Does she cherish the memories that still remain?

I hope that this play will shake up your foundations, encouraging you to ponder your own world and begin to answer those questions which you would prefer not to. Perhaps by facing those harder questions sooner, we can begin to live life as our truest selves.

SHE GETS NAKED IN THE END is produced by special arrangement with Alexis Williams, BRET ADAMS, LTD., 448 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036. www.bretadamsltd.net