The Festival of Student-Produced One-Act Plays came to an end this past Saturday with the plays “Oedi,” “The Moon Please,” and “Thread Count.”
oedi
This Rich Orloff play, directed by Disa Hairell, theater senior, had the audience laughing from the start. The Town Crier, played by Hope Harvick, theater sophomore, consistently updated the people about the gossip involving King Oedipus, played by Drewry Davison, theater senior, and his parentage.
Oedipus’ aides Creon and the blind Tiresias, played by Ronny Medina, theater sophomore, and Houston Pokorny, theater junior, respectively, tried their best to help the king connect the dots concerning Tiresias’ prophecy that Jocasta’s husband would be murdered by his son.
When Jocasta reveals she already knows she married her son, Oedipus is taken aback. Kaitie Huitt, theater sophomore, did an excellent job of playing the double role of mother and wife. She humorously rationalizes that men prefer women like their moms, so when Oedipus proposed, she decided it would be better for him to have the real thing.
Set in Thebes, Ancient Greece, Medina, Pokorny, and Huitt made quips referencing Greek culture, such as Homer’s The Iliad, the gods, democracy, and the original Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, “Oedipus the King,” from which this play was based. Pokorny and Medina satirized their role as aides by professing their loyalty to the king while simultaneously eavesdropping and gossiping about the issue to the Town Crier.
This witty work lightly poses the question of whether incest is wrong if it occurs accidentally. Oedipus struggles to decide which punishment suits his crimes: to pluck his eyes out or to maim one of his limbs. He almost carries out each of these before concluding, like any politician, that it would be a disservice to the people to hurt himself.
The Moon Please
This touching one act play by Diana Son starred Cassie Toft, theater senior, and Benjamin Ashton, history sophomore, as Ciel and Jay, a husband and wife arguing over who is going to be the bread winner. Director Maxwell Norris, theater senior, nicely arranged the set with evidence of a baby’s presence such as diapers and toys stacked in shelves.
Both individuals are trying to climb the ladder of success. Ciel, who recently gave birth, is reentering the work force. Jay, who is struggling to find a job, is preparing for a job interview. On Ciel’s first day back to work, she is frustrated that the babysitter is late.
Jay notices how Ciel looks happy to return to work and comments on it, unleashing her underlying conflict. Toft excellently portrayal the struggle working women experience trying to balance the needs of their children with that of their home. Ashton did a good job of portraying the uneasiness some fathers feel when taking care of a needy baby. He experiences something life changing when he realizes the baby is starting to recognize him.
The play offers a glimpse of the important things in life, especially with the looming knowledge that Toft’s character avoids death by deciding to stay with her baby on the morning her office, located in one of the Twin Towers, collapses later that afternoon.
Thread Count
The final play of the festival was “Thread Count” written by Lisa Soland and directed by theater senior Rachel Bullard starring Kaylor Winter-Roach, theater sophomore, as Dot, and Jonathon Stone, theater freshman, as Fergus Magilous.
Set in New York City, Dot is a simple country woman who wanders into the linens department at a Macy’s while searching for the Empire State Building. While she is there, she relaxes on a display bed only to be chided by the uptight clerk named Fergus. Dot pretends to be interested in the linen products in order to remain in the cool building.
As Fergus explains the meaning of thread count, the number of threads woven together in a square inch, Dot becomes interested in counting the threads in a 1000 thread count comforter. She claims she has good eyes and sends Fergus to search for a magnifying lens and flashlight even after the store has already closed. They soon develop a relationship while sharing their hardships from previous marriages and mutual appreciation for luxury linen.
The two make out before they are interrupted by the janitor, Tiny, played by Shannon Howerton, who knowingly gives Fergus a pep talk about carpe diem.
Winter-Roach portrayed a country girl without making the story seem like the typical country-girl-meets-city-boy romance. Stone’s perfectly timed reactions to the uncomfortable positions he finds himself in caused the audience to laugh consistently.
The couple leave the store together so that Fergus can show Dot the New York City nightlife.