This year’s Donn B. Murphy One Acts Festival features last year’s winner of Mask & Bauble’s one act play contest, “Lost in the Brain of A Great Man,” written by Seamus Sullivan (SFS ’08). Inspired by watching the furrowed brow of President George W. Bush while giving last year’s State of the Union address, this precocious play chronicles the brain activity of an unspecified president before giving the address.
The action takes place in a small office somewhere in the brain, under the care of the egotistical Santiago and his three assistants, all of whom have the simple job of selecting the President’s cologne. The scene provides a marvelous spoof of cubicle-culture, and the power struggle of minor office officials who spend their time pontificating to wilted employees. The world of the brain, however, is racked with anxiety (the inhabitants suffer from severely bad weather caused by the nerves of its owner), and the hum-drum tasks of Santiago and his crew are soon interrupted by a Russian named Yuri and the articulate and confused daughter of a local restaurant owner, Cass.
Yuri, mouth spouting Dostoyevskian angst, brings Santiago the news that someone is planning to sabotage the State of the Union. Together with Cass, who lapses in and out of oracle-like speeches, Santiago and Yuri attempt to understand the saboteur’s motives and the message behind the new, more tyrannical State of the Union.
While Yuri’s antics are often too surreal to follow, Anna Klis (SFS ’11) does a fabulous job of giving the character charm, a rolling Russian accent and depth. Cass, once she recovers from her prophesizing blackout, rivals Yuri for energy, and Marjory Collado (COL ’08) inhabits the character like a second skin. Santiago (Reilly Hart, COL ’11) alone suffers from an occasional lack of believability, and while his lines are sometimes delivered in monotone, the character is without doubt full and functional.
Sullivan’s hilarious show is brief, and the festival also features performances from the Improv Group. Improv, as always, has its moments, but the jokes are too subtle, or, more likely, not funny.
In addition to “Lost in the Brain of A Great Man,” the festival will include readings from this year’s one-act play submissions, to be considered for performance next year, as well as more performances from the Improv Group.
The DBMOAF runs Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday at 4:00 p.m. in Poulton Hall, Stage 3. Tickets are $5. Visit www.performingarts.georgetown.edu for more information.
