 "Photo: Ben Hovland")
Each year, the Quade One Act Festival lights up the stage of Haugen Theatre with a combination of fresh actors and familiar talent. This year’s festival, which will take place May 9-13, promises to be no different.
This year’s lineup consists of 20 one act plays. Each play is selected, directed and produced by a student in the Theatre 338: Intermediate Stage Direction class.
Over the years, the festival has become known as an opportunity for new actors to get involved in theater. The plays are short with small casts, providing a collaborative, less intimidating setting than bigger productions.
Peer leadership adds to the community feeling of each play. “This is a really great time to really open up the theater. The amount of people involved triples or quadruples during the festival,” Carolyn Wesley ’09 said.
Though each play is 30 minutes long and is only performed once, casts, crews and directors dedicate countless hours to putting them together. The typical one act rehearses several times a week for up to two hours at a time.
In showcasing the work of 20 unique directors, the festival will offer a wide range of theater experiences in a short time.
“We have 20 different ideas, 20 different personalities, 20 different experiences and every person gets to express their point of view,” said Molly Trucano ’10, who is directing one of the productions.
Trucano is producing a 30-minute adaptation of Charles Mee’s full-length play, “Paradise Park,” which will be performed on May 12. The play is about people who go to an amusement park and live there forever. Its plot is episodic rather than linear, including individual and group scenes.
The play provides a commentary on American culture. Its episodic plot allows it to cover a wide range of themes, including masculinity in America, finding and losing love, consumption, image and regret.
“I am really interested in image and consumption. I’m also really interested in Disneyland. This is kind of a darker take on something that is so happy. It’s all about America and the American dream,” Trucano said.
Carolyn Wesley ’09 is directing “Present Voices: An American Story in Diary and Song,” which will show on May 10. It will offer a contrast to the modern, commercialized setting of Trucano’s piece. “Present Voices” is a collection of American diary entries from 1760-1860 and accompanying songs from the Sacred Harp folk singing tradition.
Compiled by Wesley, the diaries and music form a reflection of American cultural tradition and how contemporary Americans can relate to their ancestors.
“I chose to include this element of song because the tradition was a way that people came together to express their fears, joys and insecurities,” Wesley said. “It’s a really effective way to get across this experience that still resonates with what it means to be a human today.”
This year’s lineup features one hour-long play, written and directed by David Rysdahl ’09. “Cracks” is a series of vignettes depicting the growing pains of the town of Unionville. As increasing numbers of tourists visit the town’s huge dam, Unionville sees a spike in crime. Reaching a breaking point, the townspeople go into hysterics.
Rysdahl’s play deals with isolation and failure to communicate, questioning what people have faith in and what they are blind to.
“We live in a time of flux where anything can happen and where things need to happen,” Rysdahl said. “I wrote this play terrified that the dam would break and, in a way, hoping that it would.”
Rysdahl’s play promises to provide both boisterous laughter and serious food for thought as it romps though the frenzied reactions of Unionville residents. It is the final performance of the festival, showing at 7 p.m. on May 13.
With its boundless energy and variety, this year’s Quade One Act Festival will pique the interest of many students. While audience members are permitted to come and go between performances, seats are limited, so they are encouraged to arrive early to be guaranteed admission.
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