The Wabash College Theater Department presents the 2013 Studio One-Acts Festival at 8 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 13 and 14, in the Experimental Theater in the Fine Arts Center.
Featuring four world-premiere plays written by professional, award-winning playwrights expressly for the Wabash stage, each play is managed, directed and performed by Wabash students based around the theme of masculinity in modern mythology, the 2013 Studio One-Acts Festival production is bound to be an unforgettable event full of humor, pathos, and captivating storytelling.
Dion, a comedy written by R.N. Healey, is a quirky, modern adaptation of The Bacchae. Healey, winner of the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for comedic playwriting (2012) as well as the Mary Marlin Fisher Playwriting award, wrote this piece for Wabash because, "The Bacchae is a piece I thought would be interesting to work with when dealing with an all-male cast (which Wabash provides). I wanted to modernize it for this project because it is my opinion, right now, that the mythology around American manhood has become a particular source of societal contention." Dion, directed by Josh Lutton '14, features Rory Willats '17, Kendall Baker '16, Patrick Kvachkoff '15, Christopher Szoztek '17, and Shane Xuan '17.
The Undefeated Benedict Boys, a tragicomedy written by Will Snider, introduces two brothers who attend an all-male high school, celebrating and lamenting the loss of their hero, the school's most capable athlete. Snider, member of the prestigious Youngblood collective (OBIE-award winning group of the country's most promising, emerging playwrights) penned this script for the One-Acts because, "I went to an all-boys high school where we were required to study Latin and Greek mythology, but the stories always seemed remote and forced. Our school, like any institution, had its own living mythology and, as in any mythology, athletic prowess played a major role. All-boys schools are strange places, and in a country of increasing gender parity, these schools are some of the last places to witness blunt male ridiculousness. I hope this play does justice to the mythology of the all-male environment." The Undefeated Benedict Boys is directed by Michael Witczak '14 and features Thomas Blaich '16, Donovan Whitney '16, and A.J. Clark '16.
The comedy Tetrazzini's Last Hurrah comes to us from the desk of Jason Sebacher, a Chicago-based theater professor and award-winning playwright. Tetrazzini's Last Hurrah follows two brothers on their quest to see famed opera singer Tetrazzini in his final performance. Along the way, they learn more about each other, their family, and themselves than they ever hoped to know. It is directed by Noah Eppler '16 and features Daniel McCarthy '17 and Griffin Levy '17.
Dry, a drama written by nationally acclaimed playwright Andrew Hinderaker, offers a glimpse into the painful world of addiction and rehab. The play unfolds the story of five men struggling with alcohol addiction during a weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. This piece explores how humor and kindness prevail in our darkest hours and how healing one another often, in turn, heals our own wounds. Dry is directed by A.J. Akinribade '15 and features Tucker Mark '16, Glenn Doughty '16, Kendall Baker '16, A.J. Clark '16, and Corey Egler '15.
The Studio One-Acts Festival is managed by senior theater major, Brad Hopper, and features scenic design by faculty member James Gross, and costume design by senior theater major Josh Lutton.
The Studio One-Acts contains explicit language and content and is suitable for mature audiences only. The festival is free and open to the public; no tickets are necessary. The Experimental Theater is not handicapped accessible.