Theater~Intime's Festival of One-Acts gives freshmen rare leading roles

In the first ever Freshman One-Act Festival, the Class of 2004 has the unique opportunity to steal the limelight of Theatre~Intime from older thespians.

An idea brought to light last year, the festival boasts three one-act plays that will be produced and performed solely by the members of the Class of 2004.

"Its objective is to get freshmen interested in theater and give them an opportunity to try something new now. It definitely encouraged many to come and try out," said Rosemary Rodriguez '04, media-manager for Theatre~Intime.

Though the festival opens tonight, it has been in the works since September when first-year students applied to direct the shows. One director was chosen for each play, and auditions for acting roles were held in early October.

Freshmen also took on jobs such as lighting, set design, costume design and all tech work. The only upperclassmen involved are the two artistic directors, one technical director and the production manager.

"Part of the purpose is to provide freshman directors, actors, and designers a chance to develop their own styles of artistic creation while providing support at the same time," artistic adviser Chris Wendall '03 said.

Normally, freshmen do not have the opportunity to be as intimitely involved in college theater.

"It's definitely a nice chance to be given so early in college," said Cara Sheffler '04, one of the freshman directors. "People are extremely creative, and it is neat to go into a room and see all these minds at work."

Because it is so rare for freshmen to be completely in charge of a production, the specific works were chosen carefully.

"We tried to pick plays that would be fun and not intimidating," Wendall said. "Imagine trying to settle in your first semester while directing Shakespeare."

This factor did not limit the scope of the one-acts though. The plays being presented are diverse in topic and tone.

The first one-act is called "Indian Wants the Bronx," written by Israel Horovitz and directed by David Bengali '04. Johan Mathew '04 plays a Native American who is lost in Brooklyn and looking for the Bronx. Jed Peterson '04 and John Vennema '04 play two street toughs who harass him in a game that goes violently wrong.

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" 'Indian Wants the Bronx' starts out fun to watch, but it gets very hard to watch," Wendall said. "It induces a strong progression of opinion of social issues and character."

Another one-act will be "Chamber Music," written by Arthur Kopit, who currently is teaching Intermediate Play Writing for the Program of Theatre and Dance. The plot involves a group of women in a mental hospital who think they are important historical figures.

"It's a play that is pretty much all women, but it is not a feminist play," Sheffler said. "It doesn't alienate the opposite sex, which is exciting in terms of directing."

The third one-act at the festival is "Stonewater Rapture," written by Doug Wright and directed by Lucia Smith '04. Barbara Luse '04 and Austin Saypol '04 play two teenagers who explore both sexuality and religion in a small, conservative Texan town.

"So far, directing the play has been a great experience," Smith said. "The biggest challenge I have had is blocking. The one-act is charged by dialogue, but it is not ideal to have two people just sitting and talking for 40 minutes. This is the first play I have directed alone (though I have had lots of help from my stage manager, Beth Gordon), and while it takes a lot of time, it is well worth it."

Though freshmen were given a unique opportunity this winter, they are not the only ones who will benefit in the long run.

"It's good for institutional health to have a lot of freshmen," Wendall said. "They will be seniors one day. They also bring new perspectives, and new people help us break out of the old way of doing things. The skills they developed working on the festival will help them with future projects whether at Intime or elsewhere on Princeton campus."

Theatre~Intime is unsure if it will make this festival an annual event. "We will wait and decide after we evaluate the successes and shortcomings of this year and make a decision this spring," Wendall said.

The Freshman One-Act Festival will run tonight until Feb. 11 at Theatre~Intime. The first show starts at 7 p.m., and all three shows will be performed each night. Reservations are advised, but tickets will be sold at the door..