The third annual Freshman One-Act Festival, a showcase of up-and-coming theatrical talent, is coming to Theatre~Intime Dec. 5-7. This year, the show will consist of three one-act plays — each directed, acted, and designed entirely by freshmen. Traditionally, the Festival gives theatrically-inclined freshmen the opportunity to indulge their talents and serves to encourage freshman participation in theater on campus.
The first play, directed by Daniel Recht, is "Engilsh Made Simple," a comedy written by David Ives. As in the original script, two characters, Jack (played by Justin Corelli) and Jill (Grace Labatt), meet at a party and fall in love. Recht has decided, however, to place the story within the framework of an educational program on the English language. Varying slightly from the original script (which includes a voice-over read on a loudspeaker), Recht's adaptation incorporates a third character — a lecturer (Rachel Zuraw) who uses a TV remote control to direct the characters' actions.
According to Recht, as "the play progresses, Jack and Jill act out the different scenarios in the lecture using different names and different personalities for each one."
Eventually, though, "the real Jack and Jill underneath the assumed names and personas connect with each other," ultimately falling in love. The more their real personalities begin to take hold, the more the potency of the lecturer's remote begins to dissipate, and humorous havoc ensues.
"Here We Are," directed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, is a witty one-act play based on a short story by Dorothy Parker. In deciding what play to choose, Jacobs-Jenkins looked "for something that [he] could trick people into relating to, whether they wanted to or not." Although he found the search for the perfect play "beyond grueling," when Jacobs-Jenkins finally happened upon the script, he "knew that this was it."
The play focuses on the exchanges between an exceptionally young newlywed couple (Amy Widdowson and Jonathan Ryan) three hours after their wedding, but before the actual consummation.
The tension in their relationship is derived from the issues looming directly over the couple's heads, such as the values of this new marriage and their life beyond the wedding day.
Though it is a period piece, Jacobs-Jenkins used "a little theatrical magic" to make these specific events in the past transcend time barriers.
The third play in the Festival is "Crawling Arnold" by Jules Feiffer (who also wrote "The Phantom Tollbooth" — this play has the same sense of crazy humor), directed by Natasha Degen. Set in the 1960s, it tells the story of Miss Sympathy (Morgan Galland) and her encounters with the members of the Enterprise family.
As if Grace and Barry Enterprise (Christine O'Neill and Mike Brier) weren't weird enough, things become even more complicated when their son Arnold (Jacob Savage) arrives. (Lileana Blain-Cruz plays the fourth character in the play, complicating the relationships further.) The interactions within the play are wrought with emotional manipulation, and the resulting work is a great commentary on society and politics.
All three of the works deal with their own take on the boy-meets-girl formula, said Degen, each doing it in its own way and style. The plays are mainly concerned with what happens following this meeting and how the relationships develop.
The concept of the Festival, however, extends beyond what happens on opening night. The most important thing is the creation of a forum in which students new to the campus can explore what theater might mean to them in the coming four years. It's also a time to learn, as these theater newbies are responsible for making every element of the production happen.
"As freshmen, everyone involved approached each aspect of the performance with the same enthusiastic naivete," said Degen. Their naivete was, however, short-lived.
"This whole thing has been a great learning experience," Degen continued, "from exploring the wide array of resources on campus to solving each technical difficulty that developed."
These are the actors, directors, designers and techies that will make up the Princeton theater scene in the next three years. To see them as they embark on their college theater careers, check out Intime this weekend.
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