FARMINGTON – Character interaction, be it disturbing, hilarious or profound, will be the focus of four, one-act plays debuting this weekend, with the entire festival directed and produced by students at the University of Maine at Farmington’s Advanced Directing class.
The festival opens tonight, Friday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., with a second night on Saturday, April 22, at the same time. A matinee performance Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m. will round out the weekend.
While the four students in Jayne Decker’s class: Steffon Gales, Jonas Maines, Konner Wilson and Zack Peercy, are each ostentatiously responsible for their own play, the festival as a whole is very much a collaboration. The directors said they attended each other’s casting calls and rehearsals, working with fellow student-actors and stagehands.
“It’s such a collaboration between the students,” Wilson said. “A combined effort.”
Wilson selected “The Boundary,” by Tom Stoppard and Clive Exton, featuring a lexicographer rather shockingly interrupted in the process of creating a dictionary. The play features a good deal of wit and wordplay, Wilson said, and provides an at-times hilarious counterpoint to some of the other students’ selections. The festival has been laid out to provide a good mix for the audience, the directors explained.
The preceding piece, for example, is “Home Free!” by Lanford Wilson, and it features two siblings living in a darkened apartment. The two escape their surroundings through a series of games and fanciful conversations, until an emergency intrudes, leading to a clash between the imaginary world and the real one. The play has strong overtones of mental illness, student-director Jonas Maines said, which he felt made it an important selection for the festival.
“We picked plays that reached out to us,” Maines said.
The directors began sketching out the festival in late December 2016, Steffon Gales said, reading a number of plays and drawing up a line-up that made sense. He selected “Impromptu” by Tad Mosel, a witty, clever look at four stereotypical characters – the leading man, the leading lady’s best friend, etc. – and how they’re forced to break away from their roles, revealing the people behind the actors.
The process is designed to expose the students to every aspect of a dramatic production, no matter their general focus. That’s particularly important at UMF’s theater program, which numbers only approximately 70 students, requiring well-rounded participants that can take on multiple roles.
“It’s opened my mind,” Gales said, who said he had more experience as an actor than a director. “This has sparked my interest in directing plays in the future.”
The final play in the festival, “Greetings from the Moon” was written and directed by Zack Peercy. Peercy said he first wrote the scene – featuring two girls having a discussion in a graveyard – as a short story two years ago, moving forward to adapt it into a play. Peercy said that he was influenced by the work of the American playwright Edward Albee, particularly his play “The Zoo Story” which draws upon themes of loneliness and isolation.
Decker, of course, assisted the students a great deal in the production, as did Stan Spilecki, the Emery Community Arts Center’s technical director. Madi Uliano served as a stage manager and costume designer, while Kaylee Pickering also assisted as stage manager.
The festival runs Friday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m., with a second night on Saturday, April 22, at the same time. There will also be a matinee performance Sunday, April 23 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $3 for students or senior citizens, $5 for adults.
Schedule and Case
“Impromptu” by Tad Mosel
Directed by Steffon Gales
Production Assistant: Hope Lash
Astra Pierson – Winnifred
Matthew Dotson – Tony
Tucker Atwood – Ernest
Chloe Hoecker – Lora
“Home Free!” by Lanford Wilson
Directed by Jonas Maines
Production Assistant: Sydney Gustafson
Julie Guerra – Johanna
Tucker T. Tardif – Lawrence
*15 minute intermission with concessions provided by Student Theatre UMF*
“The Boundary” by Tom Stoppard and Clive Exton
Directed by Konner Wilson
Production Assistant: Isabel Robertson
Brock Bubar – Johnson
Declan Attaway-Murphy – Bunyans
Izzy Bailey – Brenda
Cody Campbell – Operator, Cricketer, Foley
“Greetings from the Moon”
Written and Directed by Zack Peercy
Production Assistant: Jaynee Goddard
Hailey Craig – Caroline
Kristen Sarasin – Amy
