Throughout the semester, the Advanced Drama Honors class has been working tirelessly to perfect their year-end projects: four student-produced plays in the Black Box Theatre, each about 45 minutes. The event where all of these projects were performed ran from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m on May 13 and 14, and audience members could either pay 15 dollars for all four shows or five dollars per show. With shows ranging from the comedic “The Brothers’ Grimm Spectaculathon” to the slightly more serious “A Counterexample,” it was certainly a night to remember.
Take a look at the blurbs below to see what you missed, and how each director felt in a lookback.
The Brothers’ Grimm Spectaculathon (5:30pm)
Director’s note: Come see all of the Grimm fairy tales performed for you in less than 45 minutes. Chaos and hilarity will ensue!
Brothers’ Grimm Spectaculathon, directed by junior Kayleen Nordyke, included all Grimm’s fairy tales told in a very unique perspective. The team of five actors, Hima Taminemmi, Saagar Godithi, Esther Chang, Victoria Xiao and Alex Bokovikova pulled off a fast and potentially confusing one-act. Any questions about the happenings during the scenes were to be answered by stage manager Megumi Pennebaker.
The Wrath and The Dawn (6:30pm)
Director’s note: Come see this reinvention of the beloved story, The Arabian Nights.
After reading the retelling of the Arabian Nights, director Kristy Maanavi was inspired to recreate the unique love story with its various South Asian cultures and intriguing characters Sharzhad and Khalid, played by juniors Cassie Woodard and Jeremi Kalkowski respectively.
A Counterexample (7:30pm)
Director’s note: Come see the true events behind Sophie Germain, the first published female mathematician.
Directed by Director Nelson Niu, A Counterexample took an interesting mix of feminist ideals mixed in with mathematical elements. The premise of the play revolved around a woman by the name of Sophie Germain, who lived during the time era of the French Revolution, and her rocky path to becoming an esteemed mathematician. With well-researched background information for the play to shine, A Counterexample took a new and spectacular take on the definition of a play. Niu brought his play together in one complete finish; a eye-opening ending scene, where Sophie Germain gets her well-deserved credit, by taking back a stolen equation she created. With this play, Niu brought across the idea that female mathematicians didn’t receive credit for their work in the past, due to the extreme sexism that came with it. As well as bringing our attention as an audience that this still occurs in daily life.
Boeing, Boeing (8:30pm)
Director’s note: Come see what happens when one bachelor tries to hide his engagements with three different stewardesses!
Play: Bachelor Bernard’s life is thrown into disarray when all three of his stewardesses end up at his apartment on the same day. Bernard and his friend Robert must navigate the ins and outs of the situation in order to keep the stewardesses from learning the truth. Throughout the play, each character undergoes growth — from Bernard overcoming his misogynistic ways to the stewardesses asserting their independence. Ultimately these developments challenge the stereotypes of the 1960s.
