From people trapped in a bus station to trapped in a subway train to running away with the circus, this year's Eleanor Frost plays deal with some ordinary people facing extraordinary situations.
But this year's winning playwrights, directors and the thespians they have assembled to stage their plays are more than up to the challenge of performing these works.
The Eleanor Frost Playwriting Competition was established in 1950 by a gift from Eleanor Louise Frost, which has been supplemented by gifts from Henry Williams.
Frost was a member of the Dartmouth community who enjoyed and encouraged the Dartmouth Players Experimental Theater, according to the Hopkins Center.
The annual Frost Play Festival is a contest open to all Dartmouth classes from all majors. Students must submit previously unproduced one-act plays for consideration in the Winter term, and three plays are chosen to be staged each Spring term.
The student plays "Down by the Seaside in the Sinking Sand," "Coffee, Anyone?" and "Magician's Girl" will be staged in Bentley Theater beginning today and running Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m.
Patricia Herrera '96 won a place in the Frost competition for her written play, "Down by the Seaside."
Stephanie Blake '96, the director of the play, described the play as the story of a group of people stuck on a subway train on New Year's.
"It starts out with four normal-looking people, then two homeless women enter. It's all about their different stories and how they interact," Blake said.
The apparently "normal people" in the work are Christian Felix '99, Matt Gordon '98, Sara Israel '97 and Lexy Zissu '96. The homeless women are played by Veronica Garcia '96 and Saadiah Fowlkes '97.
Herrera said several props from real trains are employed for the production.
Karen Koontz '96 is the author of "Coffee, Anyone?," another Frost play. She said her play focuses on the relationship between two characters named Jed and Crystal.
Koontz said, "Jed's been abusive to Crystal for a long time, and for the first time, she's not gonna take it. She just doesn't like his abusive behavior and the things he stands for."
Koontz explained that on the day of Crystal's outburst, a storm sweeps through their small Texas town, trapping them inside a bus station.
Tim O'Leary '97, the director of Koontz's play, said, "It's basically a day in the life of a Texas bus station/restaurant, things are usually mundane, but they erupt into a big ol' mess."
The play stars Allison Fisch '99 as Crystal and Rob Rees '97 as Jed.
O'Leary added, "It's a hard play, the roles are difficult for people to feel a part of. Most people at Dartmouth have very little to do with small-town Texas."
Rebecca Gorman '96 wrote "The Magician's Girl," a play in which a girl runs away to join the circus.
Gorman said the setting takes place before World War II and a "gritty 'ol traveling circus" she joins. The play centers on a girl named Daisy and the effects she has on a person she meets there.
"The Magician's Girl" stars Sarah Callies '99 as Daisy, Kyle Ancowitz '98 as the magician and Carolyn Zern '97 as a tightrope walker and circus vixen.
The play's director Jay Hanlon '97 said, "It's been a bit of a bumpy road, but the show's really been pulling together over the last few rehearsals."
He cited the "devotion of a fantastic stage manager" (Schuyler Hedstrom '99) and the "enthusiasm of a young cast" as crucial to making the play exciting.
