Group Chat by Abby Cortez
(with devised elements from ensemble members)
Director: Natalie Kattas
The play starts with a group chat where every character is invited. They are all discussing what X did, and how no one wants X there because of what they did. The play moves through a series of scenes and monologues that all intertwine at the end, much like the Theory of Relativity. Each character has their own conflicts and issues involving technology. Much of it happens either through text, in person, or on the phone. In the end, we see X with her best friend, Meredith, discussing the party and the rumors. The last scene mirrors the opening one, a group chat with the whole cast talking about the party, but they have already moved on from the Drama with X.
Stroke Static by Lindsay Price
Director: Julia Manser
Russ is an eighty-three year-old man in a nursing home struggling with multi-infarct dementia. But in his mind he sees himself as a boy of eighteen, and thus is played by a young actor. Russ wrestles with reality versus fantasy, and past versus present as he struggles to understand where he is and what is happening to him. The ensemble plays a variety of real and imaginary characters in Russ’ mind. A heartbreaking look at what goes on in the mind of someone who can’t communicate.
Velvet by Beverly D’Andrea
Director: Beverly D’Andrea
Velvet is a recent environmental science graduate of Dartmouth and she's just gotten a summer work study with Dr. Ahmed, her Environmental Science professor. On her first day she is tasked with killing a plant to derive an effective weedkiller. She realizes that she got into the profession with a vague notion of helping plants but has no real passion for it. When Dr. Ahmed tells her sometimes scientists must bow to investing pressures she quits. Her mother wants her to become a socialite but her father encourages her to find work she is passionate about. That night she decides she needs a total life readjustment so she moves to a tiny town in Arkansas where she begins to work at a salon having no hair cutting experience. However she quickly falls in love and realizes it’s an art and her passion. Her mother tells her she's throwing away her degree and her life, that haircutting is menial and something people only do when "they have nothing else". She meets a young mother Penny who just had a baby with her boyfriend at 19. Velvet is able to make Penny feel beautiful for the first time in a very long time and that's when Velvet realizes she's fallen in love with the art of making people feel beautiful and that she belongs in Heartmonth Arkansas.
Our Place by Terry Wayne Gabbard (VHSL Piece)
Directors: Isabel Nemati and Sarah Fajer
The unassuming location of a dock extending out onto a small lake serves as the backdrop for five different stories. On a cool autumn night, Jake arrives with Holly at a secluded spot. The couple feels an immediate connection to this place as if it were put there just for them. Things seem perfect until Anne and her date, Lyle, arrive. On another day, early in the morning, Beth has plans to spend the day with her dad at their favorite fishing place. She has high hopes for catching some sunshine, a few fish, and her dad's fading memories. The third story involves Al, who arrives at the dock with his family and has high expectations for their family canoe trip. The only problem is that his wife would rather stay inside, his son has a chip on his shoulder, and his daughter is really weird. In the fourth story, Cory and Liberty are having a picnic lunch out by the lake, but a realization about tuna-fish sandwiches sends a shockwave through their relationship and brings about questions of who they are and what lies ahead for them. In the fifth story, Stanley escapes the hardships of his life to blow off some steam on the dock when Sidney, his 6-year-old sister, arrives. All he wants is for her to go away, but she insists on staying with him. The entire ensemble gathers on the dock together for the final scene. In a poetic epilogue, they all discover the true meaning of Our Place—both comedic and tragic.
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