In this year’s Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival, Mask & Bauble presents an entertaining, yet highly unbalanced evening of student artistry and creativity. First, three college juniors meet one afternoon in Invading Bessarabia, by Colin Relihan (CAS ‘02), for friendly competition at a board game, which looks suspiciously like “Risk,” in the living room of an apartment that is unmistakably redolent of Village A. What starts out as just another lazy afternoon of cheap beer and delivery pizza, however, soon turns into the scene of interminable, existentialist ramblings by precocious, yet charmingly clueless 20-year-old men.
James is the typical college junior, not especially motivated, yet introspective to a fault. He is both entertained and aggravated by Steve, who bombards his friends alternatively with messages from his staunchly liberal political soap box and interludes of random hip-hop recitations. The third friend, Mark, is the kind of guy who “just writes funny things on paper and says them out loud.” His wild tangents about dwarfs, Visigoths and ABBA provide a comical, if bizarre, relief from the tension between the other two characters.
Bryan Hughes (MSB ‘05) as Steve is clearly the strong link in this cast, generally assuming natural postures and responses. Jason Ryan (MSB ‘04) as James, on the other hand, tends to anticipate others’ actions on stage and move through the script robotically and unnaturally. Joe Gallagher (CAS ‘04) is charming as Mark; though he sometimes goes over the top with his strange fantasy rants, he succeeds in making a potentially one-dimensional character both interesting and endearing, especially during his monologue.
The cast is hampered, however, by the somewhat unrefined direction of Cynthia Miller (CAS ‘02). Her awkward blocking leaves the actors literally running into each other at some moments and blocking the audience’s view at others. Furthermore, all three characters constantly break the natural flow of action to make exaggerated and lousy impersonations of such figures as Pat Robertson, an inept decision in Relihan’s script supported and exacerbated by Miller’s direction.
After this vaguely entertaining, yet crucially flawed act, sitting down again to watch New Adventures from the American Dustbowl is like taking in a breath of fresh air. The artful script by Drew Courtney (CAS ‘03) is nothing short of poignant. Adroitly using analogy and dramatic irony, Courtney addresses important social issues facing working-class American families without hitting the audience over the head with melodrama.
Caitlin Lowans (SFS ‘03) is excellent as Mom, the fifty-something widow who learns on Thanksgiving Day that she has just lost her job. Lowans, with the help of the skillful direction of Christopher Hajduk (CAS ‘04), has a very good sense of how to occupy herself onstage with natural, everyday actions. Her posture and voice as Mom never once belie the actress’s actual youth. Tom Huddleston (SFS ‘05) delivers a stellar monologue and a generally even performance as Tom, the only one of Mom’s children to go away to college?and confront his homosexuality in the process.
Mom’s other son, Jim, spent years trying to reconcile his perceived calling to the priesthood with his healthy sexual appetite. Smartly portrayed by Colin Sweeney (CAS ‘05), Jim is protective of his younger sister, Rose, when he learns that her boyfriend, Connie, is cheating on her. Rose resents Jim’s interference, however, because she is pregnant with Connie’s baby and longs for her child to have a stable and loving home, even if it means settling for a less-than-perfect man. Tracy Hartman (CAS ‘03) and Kevin Burel (CAS ‘04) shine as Rose and Connie; their simultaneous monologues are both humorous and touching.
One highlight of both productions is the costume design by Quinn Cassidy (CAS ‘04). Her costumes excellently reflect the personalities of the characters with appropriate subtlety and realism. Lighting design by Ian-Julian Williams (CAS ‘03) is also generally strong; despite some moments of obscured faces during Bessarabia, he provides lighting transitions that artfully reflect mood changes in the monologues of Dustbowl. Caitlin Lowans doubles as set designer, smartly creating one scene that is convincing as both a college apartment and a small, 50-year-old Buffalo home.
All in all, the One Acts Festival is a proud night for the theatrical capabilities and accomplishments of Georgetown students. Despite the inevitable flaws and imperfections in producing two plays of this nature in the same evening, Mask & Bauble again reminds us that there are students on our campus capable of and willing to pursue dramatic excellence.
