Student Playwriting Festival Shows That Everything Can be About Hell
By Allie Huttler ’11
News Reporter
From Thursday May 8th until Saturday May 10th, students took the stage for the 17th annual Student Playwriting Festival, open to the entire community. Each performace started at 7:30 p.m. and lasted about ninety minutes. Since SPF ticket fees were paid for by The Katz Foundation, students were able to see the show for free.
The show consisted of four plays, all student-written, student-directed, and student-acted. Students were also in control of costumes and lighting. The SPF stage manager this year was Jennifer Xiao ’09, with assistant Victoria Vaccari ’09. Props and set were taken care of by Ailis Peplau ’09, and Loren Olsen ’09 was in charge of the extravagant and detailed costumes.
The first play to perform, “Shooting Blanks: A Modern Day Fairy Tale,” directed by Nathaniel Moore ’08 and written by Marley Hyman ’09, was a takeoff of several common children’s fairy tales. The characters included Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Cupid. These actors demonstrated the struggles inscribed in their fairy tale character’s job description and eventually the meaning of love. Madeleine Foote ’11, Arline Lee ’09, and Molly Webb ’08 each gave a wonderful performance.
The second show up kicked off with a humorous dueling scene involving Zoe Kauder Nalebuff ’11 (Wessel) and Ariel Duffy ’10 (Jorgen). The duel played into the idea of a play within a play, as it acted out a part of the “unfinished play” mentioned in the title, “Blood, Danes, and an Unfinished Play.” The main character, a play writer named Isadora, played by Cordelia Blanchard ’08, in the process of creating this play, found assistance from Peter (Jesse Brent ’09) to complete it. Other characters included the “rich lady,” played by Victoria Vaccari ’09, and God (as Alberta, Himself, and Producer) played by Ashley McGeary ’08. Written by Alexander Hanini ’10, “Blood, Danes, and an Unfinished Play” was directed by Benjamin Firke ’08.
Third to perform was “Better Late than Never” written by Nevada Trager ‘08 and directed by Kim Solow ‘08. This plot focused on teaching the importance of the title’s theme: late success. By the end of the play, Lindsey, played by Eleanor Mitchell ’11, concluded that it was better for her to realize information at some point rather than not at all. Despite its somber tone, the actors had only positive comments. “Not only did I learn a lot from my SPF experience, but I also had a blast,” says Eleanor Mitchell ’11. “From rehearsals to costuming to the actual performances, the fun never stopped.” Other characters include Kendall (Greer O’Keefe ’09), Form Dean (Tamara Gonzalez ’10), Adviser (Zoe Kauder Nalebuff ’11), and Dean of Students (Ariel Duffy ’10).
Last, but certainly not least, was “Hotel Hell” directed by Jen Basian ’08. This play, written by Francisca DaSilveira ‘10, illustrated the scene of a lost woman’s encounter in Hell with an insane guest and the rather eccentric employees of the “hotel.” Mrs. Hennessy, played by Molly Renehan ’11, began by wondering why she was sent to Hell and eventually admitted the crime she had committed during her lifetime. Madeleine Morris ’10 played the dead mental patient Aggie, Learah Lockhart ’08 played the receptionist Irene, and Alex Tenney ’11 played Onyx, the maid, who was quite the frightful character. Having hardly any lines, Onyx attracted much attention from the audience with her intense appearance, screeching noises, and discrete movements.
For the most part, the audience was deeply impressed. “The show was very entertaining and held my attention throughout,” says Antea DeMarsilis ’11. “The cast seemed to fit their parts perfectly and really got into character.”
Alex Tenney ’11, a maid from Hell, freaks out Mr. Farrell. PHOTO/Ian Morris
