Student Directors Take Center Stage in Festival of One Acts

The sixth annual Festival of One Acts will feature the talents of University student directors sharing their artistic visions in six one-act plays.

Performances are scheduled for February 25, 26 & March 1, 3, 4, each beginning 8 p.m. in Matheson Hall.

“Prepare to laugh a lot, maybe even cry a little.  There is something for everyone in this show,” says Marilynn Loveless, director of the La Sierra University drama program. “As in years past, audience members will be asked to vote for their favorite play and the winning director will be given a fabulous prize.  We're not sure what that prize is yet, but it will be fabulous.”

The evening's six plays include:

Sophomore drama minor Ashley Aylsworth directing a trip back in time with Alice Gerstenberg's classic 1920 comedy of manners, Fourteen.  Society Hostess Mrs. Pringle is throwing a dinner party and she has invited the most eligible bachelor in town in order to dazzle him with the charm and beauty of her only daughter, Elaine.  However, her best-laid plans seemed doomed from the start.

Senior drama minor and veteran of the La Sierra UniversityDrama stage, Will Appiah, directs, The Weirdest Honeymoon Ever by D.M. Larson.  The title of the play is rather self-explanatory.  Be prepared for comedic mayhem!

Co-directors Michael Browning (sophomore drama minor) and Francisco Grant (junior drama minor) co-direct celebrated writer Christopher Durang's hilarious, The Actor's Nightmare, featuring an accountant who is mistaken for an actor's understudy and forced to perform in a play for which he doesn't know any of the lines!

Ladies, would you like to finally have the chance to see into a man's brain?  Directed by award-winning writer and junior drama minor, Katie Huffman, Echo by Joseph T. Shipley, explores the relationship between a playwright and his wife, who has trained him to be an “echo” of her former boyfriend!  Harold wrestles with himself about what to say to his wife, which the audience gets to see through the personification of the emotional and rational sides of his brain.

Junior drama minor and La Sierra UniversityDrama technical director, Chris Kaatz, tackles Life and Death (literally!) in Louise Bryant's play, The Game.  We follow the fate of a young man, who writes love songs and was hurt by his sweetheart and a beautiful young dancer who longs for love.

Although he is new to the La Sierra UniversityDrama stage, award-winning director and graduate student, Shane Wood, is no stranger to the theater.  His play, Hard Candy, by Jonathan Rand, serves as both a searing indictment of corporate mismanagement and a very funny satire.

Festival tickets are available— $10 General Admission, $7 University Faculty, Staff & Students— and can be obtained at the English, Communication, & Drama office in South Hall. Call (951) 785-2241 or email drama.lsu@gmail.com for additional ticket information.

Reservations are highly recommended. You must pick up your reserved ticket by 7:30 p.m. on the evening of a performance or it will be released for sale to the general public.  For more information please call Marilynn Loveless (951) 785-2274.

PR Contact: Larry Becker

Executive Director of University Relations

La Sierra University

Riverside, California

951.785.2460 (voice)