One-acts range from slapstick to sincere

December 4th, 2009 | By Tyler Banas | Section: Arts

Viewers may be surprised by how much eccentricity, humor, rumination, gloom and sheer emotion student directors of this Friday’s theater performance were able to pack into their one-act plays.
This Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Wall Theatre (BCA 154), four students in the theater department’s directing seminar will each be presenting a one-act play that they themselves have directed.
“I let the student-directors encounter the difficulties as they arise,” Craig Quintero, Theater, said. “I provide guidance and support if they ask, but they usually overcome their difficulties on their own.”
Chris Bulbulia ’10 directed the first play, which is an eccentric performance characterized by slapstick puns, quirky sound bites and a large cast of student-actors.
The second play–directed by Kyle Lobaugh ’10–is a dark comedy about a couple, caught in the midst of an affair, discussing the future of their relationship.
Moving away from humor and into heavier subject matter, the third play, directed by Imran Kabir ’10, features two authors as they discuss death, creativity and the creative process.
“Footfalls,” directed by Gillain Hemme, ’10, is both the last play the most somber. As I watched it, I could not help from focusing on an actor’s bodily shadow as it oscillated over the walls and the audience faces. Set in a skin-pricklingly dark room, this play left me groping for any glimpse of bright hope.
“You move through space in a totally different way when you’re these characters,” Grace Carroll, ’12, who plays a lead role in Hemme’s play, said.
The student-directors, as well as the actors they have cast, have clearly invested profoundly in their 20-30 minute acts.
“It’s more than just a class project,” Hemme, said. “It’s a collective effort to create our own world … it’s a total experience.”