Freshman festival a mixed bag

The Freshman One Act Festival, part of Theatre Intime's admirable effort to cultivate up-and-coming theatre talent at Princeton, returns for the 10th consecutive year with a sampling of plays produced, directed and acted entirely by members of the class of 2013. The four plays selected for this season's festival, "Please Have a Seat and Someone Will Be With You Shortly" by Garth Wingfield, "Fishing" by Jeff Hoffman, "Railing It Uptown" by Shirley Lauro and "The Philadelphia" by David Ives, are all really short (try fifteen minutes), focused on the intriguing possibilities of simple conversation, and, most importantly, crafted by an ambitious and promising group of freshmen.

Beyond that, similarities in both content and quality are scarce between the constituent productions, each of which is independently directed and rehearsed. "Please Have a Seat and Someone Will Be With You Shortly," directed by Julia Bumpke, is performed first and is by far the strongest of the quartet. Set in the lobby of a psychiatric clinic, it follows an endearingly awkward conservation between two patients, who have longed harbored a covert, mutual attraction and fascination with one another. Propelled by a commanding performance by Carolyn Vasko opposite Adam Stasiw, their meandering conversation feels authentic and heartfelt, at times entertaining and touching, and remarkably free of melodrama. Particularly effective is Vasko's monologue, delivered with verve and playful assurance, about her fantasy of David as a carpenter who makes "rough-hewn chairs and benches that you'd rub with linseed oil while NPR plays in the background." (In fact, we soon learn, David is an accountant.) Vasko and Stasiw both do a superb job expressing the play's unsentimental peek at the appeal of the fleeting idealization.

Next up is Emma Watt's production of "Fishing," in which a father (Daniel Abromowitz) and daughter (Claire Greene) sit on a dock, fish and discuss their relationship. In the first minute, we are told that the father recently died and that he first slept with his daughter when she was 12. (It may have been 13, but she nonchalantly confesses to have forgotten the exact circumstances). Regrettably, little develops out of this highly intriguing premise, and much of the dialogue feels contrived and stilted. Compounding the problem is the (presumably deliberate) decision by both Abromowitz and Greene to play their characters as excruciatingly detached. Perhaps in an effort to appear irrevocably hardened and stoic, Greene recounts the numerous horrors of her character's sexual abuse and her conflicted thoughts about her family in an indistinct monotone, but her matter-of-fact delivery negates most of the emotional impact of what she is saying. Occasional enthusiastic digressions- such as a revealing moment in which both characters launch into a passionate diatribe against the proliferation of so-called "fag words" like "closure," "impasse," and "therapy" - add momentary life, but do little to invigorate the glacial pace and ineffective aloofness of the drama.

In "Railing It Uptown" (directed by Briyana Davis), Sarah Paton captures the essence of the prototypical nightmare subway seatmate, terrifying the woman next to her (Savannah Hankinson) with probing personal questions, dance renditions performed in the aisle, and increasingly hysterical monologues about her poor health. Paton's acting lacks nuance but is entertaining and appropriate for the role, and Hankinson, resisting the urge to overplay a limited role, is quite convincing as the stunned bystander.

The night concludes on a lighthearted note with Charlotte Weisberg's "The Philadelphia," in which the three characters identify good and bad states of mind by city names. Al's (Patrick Morton) boss has fired him and his girlfriend has left him, but he remains serenely oblivious in "a Los Angeles," while his unfortunate friend Mark (Daniel Gastfriend) is trapped in the doldrums of "a Philadelphia." It's a snappy, intriguing premise for a play and smart acting (especially by Morton) brings a good comic romp to life.

This year's Freshman One Act Festival is an eclectic mix, and to give a general assessment is no easy task. Some of the acts are better than others and nothing is terribly polished, but this talented group of freshman, despite limited time and resources, have cobbled together a night of good theatre. The festival may not be must-see, but I'm definitely looking forward to the thesis productions three years down the line.

Pros: "Please Have a Seat and Someone Will Be With You Shortly"