Play festival kindles thespian talents

Friday, February 2, at 8:00 p.m., members of the Drama Club, Rose alumni, and a Rose faculty member met to begin the Drama Club’s second yearly scheduled all-nighter, the “24-Hour Play Festival.”

Writers were given a prop and drew the name of their director out of a hat; the director then drew the names of their three to four actors out of another hat. In many cases, the groups met then and there to brainstorm ideas, but in some cases, roles were assigned after the scripts were written. Many of the groups had never worked this closely together before.

The writers then withdrew to begin writing a play to be finished by 8:00 a.m. the next morning. At that time, the play’s scripts were handed over to the directors, who met with the actors to discuss the script and the performance.

“I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t stressed out or nervous,” said Brittany LeClear, sophomore mathematics major who played Greta Harmon -- explainer of things humorous -- in the play “There’s Something Funny About Penelope Peterson”, written by Professor Thomas Adams and wife Dee Adams.

“It can be a high-stress atmosphere,” said Karen Kirchman, director of “Shotgun Acting” and junior chemical engineer, “but the drama kids keep the atmosphere light and fun.”

“I love the fast pace of the 24 Hour shows,” said Danna Sheridan, who played serial killer Julia Fazekas in Bill Nagel’s “Boy Meets Girl.” Sheridan is a senior biomedical engineer, while Nagel is an alumnus.

The process though which the writers developed their stories was as widely diverse as the authors themselves. Senior computer engineer Nick Slabaugh, author of the play “Congratulations, You’ve Won a Free Vanation Getaway!” said, “The story for my play was actually the result of thinking of a concept then developing a story around it. I wanted to paint a metaphorical and hyperbolic picture of one person’s interaction with terrorism in the form of the G-Man.”

Slabaugh wrote his script with his actors in mind, adding, “I was very pleased with how well I wrote for my actors - I really thought that my written parts fit their acting styles very well.”

David Korff, junior computer science major, on the other hand, said, “The idea was definitely not one that I had considered before.” His play, “Two Lanes, or Four?” featured a suite of female roommates (acted by Kris Dobbins, Sarah Erhart, Jessica Rogers, and Amanda Gehring) plagued by problems that the seemingly paranoid/conspiracy theorist Erhart attributes to stalkers, hidden cameras, and the ARA serving hamster stew.

“It was a combination of several ideas that I tossed around with my director and actors in the half hour after we had been assigned our prop,” Korff added. His prop was perhaps one of the more odd of the plays: a corn-cob-like pillow that the roommates discover contains a hidden camera.

Some directors ran with the script as given, while others made some drastic changes.

Christian Gage, senior mechanical engineer and director of “Boy Meets Girl,” said, “The original script, when I received it at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday, was very short; somewhere in the vicinity of three minutes long.” His group removed an ending song and extended the script to last about ten minutes, including completely changing the ending.

“Coming up with a play in a matter of 10 hours is not easy. Doing it in the middle of the night is even harder,” Gage said.

Kirchman, on the other hand, made fewer changes. “As soon as I read the script, I could see how it would play out on stage,” she said. “We made a few minor changes to the script during rehearsal to make the show more effective on stage.”

Gage was unique in that he directed and acted in the same play. “Acting and directing together was not an easy task; there’s usually a certain separation between actors and a director which allows for unbiased critiquing,” he said, “which also allows for the director to see the show from the outside. That, and it’s tough to watch a play while attempting to memorize lines.”

The actors’ experiences were consistently positive. “I also must say, I was very impressed by the work of my group’s writer, Robin Pruss,” said Alex Joyce, the junior mechanical engineer who played Amy in Robin Pruss’s “Trained.” “I worked with a great group of people,” she added, complimenting director Aaron Meles and co-actors Caleb LeNoir and Dave Schluneker.

Junior computer engingeer LeNoir had the interesting role of playing 13-year old Cody in “Trained.” “I wasn’t really expecting that type of role because I don’t really look like I’m thirteen anymore,” he said. “I think it is more about your mannerisms and how you carry yourself on stage than how you look.”

Sheridan said, “The neat thing about these shows is that if you mess up, almost no one will be able to tell.”

Caroline Ullom, the senior chemical engineer who played Kate in “Shotgun Acting,” said, “I have never worked with any of them before but they made it such a great experience.”

“The 24-hr Theater Festival is a whirlwind of crazy theater high-jinks!” commented Kirchman.

LeNoir said, “We enjoyed it. The audience seemed to enjoy it. What more can you ask for?”