The Drama Club never fails to impress. From Oct. 25-27, students produced and performed six one-act plays as part of this year’s ActoberFest.
Curtains opened to the first play “No Meat ‘Til Crete,” written by David Hughes and directed by senior Sabrina Brennan. The play itself was funny at times, mainly due to the performances of freshmen Diana Brennan, Anna Cohen, and Katrina Wasserman. They had perfect comedic timing. Unfortunately, the actresses fell out of character occasionally, losing their British accents during emotional lines.
“Running in Circles Screaming,” written by Jeni Mahoney and directed by junior Ariel Waldman, achieved its goal with very few flaws. It combined humor in junior Megan Poulos’ character, Heather, with an emotional story line that captured the audience after a moment of confusion during the transition from comedy to drama. The play displayed the fact that it is impossible to fully understand someone else’s viewpoint.
The third play, “Fitting Rooms,” showed a progression from simple to dramatic. In the beginning, three story lines separately established three equally interesting relationships. As each character was developed, the show’s cast managed to fully immerse themselves in their character. However, the combination of the three story lines into a single overdramatized moment seemed to come out of nowhere and crushed the three developing relationships. Though writer Susan Cinoman’s play has received wide recognition as a great American one-act, the overdramatic elements took away from the rest of the plot by overwhelming the audience.
After a brief intermission, ActoberFest continued with “Third Wheel,” written by Monica Flory and directed by Sophie Brett-Chin. Ellie Bain made the performance, with her comic role as the mute stalker accompanying a couple on their date. Her innocent gestures provided many hilarious moments.
“Have You Seen Down There Lately?,” the second play written by David Hughes, was based upon the idea of building God up as a celebrity in order to restore faith. Similar to David Hughes other piece, it could have been funnier, but it did have a certain depth in displaying how pe
ople of today essentially worship their favorite celebrities.
The final one-act, “Drugs Are Bad,” was the most laugh-out-loud performance. Falling in the genre of absurd comedy, the play centered around two parents finding out to their dismay that their son studies and drinks milk instead of watching porn and doing drugs.
The performers impressively withheld any giggles during the highlight of the show.
Between each play, The Improvables returned, directed by veteran Improvables Sabrina Brennan and Lena Kogan. As in past years, the group provided great entertainment, displaying their remarkable improvisation skills. It takes true talent to be able to develop three different television shows about sweat mere seconds after finding out their topic.
Overall, ActoberFest delivered above its expectations. The performers and directors clearly worked hard (despite their busy Peter Pan schedules) and it paid off in an excellent event worth much more than the the free admission to attend.