The Frost play festival showcased the works of Dartmouth undergraduate playwrigts. The series of plays, performed by randomly assigned actors and actresses, were well received by the enthusiastic audience who gathered to see the plays last week.
"One Hundred Days," written by Kyle Ancowitz '98 and directed by Jo Weingarten '98, draws upon an ancient Chinese riddle to explore modern versions of love and devotion.
"The Perfect Woman," directed by Ancowitz, is the portrayal of the final months in the life of an anorexic girl and how her friends deal with her life and death. At first, the characters seem similar to stereotypical emotionally centered teenagers, but they do deviate from these images, especially during the funeral scene.
Weingarten, the writer, has Amy, played by Shay Lawrence '00, deliver her best friend's funeral address directly to the audience. During this speech, Heather Charles '98, who playsthe anorexic girl, Robin, actually joins her onstage, creating the most meaningful emotional scene of the play.
This scene is beautiful in its combination of anger and serenity, and uses both to emphasize the girls' friendship in ways not possible during other scenes, which were made tense and hyper by the presence of Jon Light '00 and Matt Shafer '97, who played the girls' boyfriends. This final scene reveals both the best and the worst of Robin and Amy, who are forever separated and forever cemented by anorexia.
"You Are Here" was written by Stefan Lanfer '97 and directed by R. D. Rees '97. They could not have made a better team and their work allowed brilliant performances by Nevin Patton '97 and Kevin Price '97.
The humor in "You Are Here" only accents the human need for companionship, which is displayed differently by each character. Lanfer infuses televised sports with utter loneliness, and the script propels all kinds of action, making the production reminiscent of Albee's "Zoo Story."
