On Saturday, Feb. 22, All College Theatre performed two showings of “An Evening of Shorts,” which consisted of four short plays that were performed by individual casts.
Three of the shows were student-written, and all four were student-directed.
The impressive variety of emotions and themes within the four works kept the audience intrigued throughout the entire show.
The first play, “Henry’s Dead,” was written and directed by Garrett Verdone, a junior marketing major.
The show portrayed the unfolding of a pseudo love triangle between characters Chris (played by Matt Steuerer), Sam (Ryan Farmer-Smith) and Kris (Jenna Burke), amusingly triggered by the death of Chris’s cat, Henry.
The comedy provided a lighthearted and funny atmosphere, opening the show with a positive ambiance.
“Smitten,” written by Anna Stillaman and Mark Matthews, was directed by graduate student John Eldis.
The story follows the witty lovers Nichola (Emily Brady) and Peter (Jake Burbage), who make ironic and deadly discoveries about one other.
The intensity of this short kept the audience on the edge of their seats for the first half of the show, and the unexpected plot twist was hilariously clever.
Freshman journalism major Jonathan Edmondson wrote and directed “Crestfallen,” an intriguing short showcasing the powers of perception and passion.
Viola (Rachael Scott) is an amateur actress caught up in her own world. Her daughter, Grey (Rachel Friedman), enlists the help from Greg (Keith Mellea), Anastasia (Nina Shulgach) and Dr. Lockwell (Michael Krakower) to bring her mother back to reality.
Edmondson’s short portrays that sometimes ignorance is bliss, but when reality sets in the consequences can be severe.
The final short within the show, titled “Dear Grief,” was written and directed by junior English and secondary education dual major Blaire Deziel.
The thought-provoking short followed a therapist (Carly DaSilva) as she handled patients in varying stages of grief: Anger (Fred Stange), Bargaining (Hillary Siegel), Depression (Courtney Johnson) and Acceptance (Cindy Walker).
The actors’ emotional performances absorbed the audience, many of whom were tearing up by the end of the short.
The meticulous work of the writers, directors, actors and production staff provided an incredible final product for “An Evening of Shorts.”
Their obvious passion for the arts combined with natural talent allowed each short to be performed masterfully.
As director Garrett Verdone explained, “We love theater because theater can make us laugh, it can make us think and it can make us feel.”
The four shorts touched upon all three of these reactions, evidencing the success of the performances.
