This weekend, the Dartmouth theater department will present original plays written by three Dartmouth students in the annual Eleanor Frost and Ruth and Loring Dodd Play Festival. The festival will feature two staged readings and one fully produced play on Friday through Sunday.
The three plays were chosen as the winners of Dartmouth's annual playwriting contest, the Frost Dodd Contest, which calls for submissions of original one-act plays from Dartmouth undergraduates.
Two students, Kenny Baclawski '12 and Maggie Flanagan '13, were selected as Frost Contest winners, and one student, Ariela Anhalt '11, was selected as the Dodd winner.
A full production of Anhalt's "The Goode Brother," directed by theater professor Peter Hackett, will occur on July 30 at 8 p.m. and July 31 at 7 p.m. Anhalt was also a 2010 winner of the Frost Contest.
Anhalt, who majored in English with a concentration in creative writing, is currently taking a year off before law school to write. Her first novel, "Freefall," was published in 2010.
"The Goode Brother" tells the story of a teenager attempting to win a contest to develop America's best new ice cream flavor. As the play goes on, the character "starts questioning her reasons for wanting to win, and some of her family difficulties start to hinder her," Anhalt said.
The play is "a comedy, but definitely dark at times," according to Max Hunter '13, a theater major who is working in sound production for the festival.
Anhalt lauded the collaborative nature of this weekend's festival, noting that this allowed her to work with the director and actors throughout the process to create the best possible end product.
"You hear someone say a line that sounds so much better than how you imagined it in your head," Anhalt said.
Being part of the process allowed her to tailor the play to the actors, even changing the gender of the main character after auditions.
Staged readings of Baclawski's piece, "From A to Zombie," will take place on July 29 at 8 p.m. and July 31 at 7 p.m. Flanagan's play, "Erin is Typing," will be performed at 8 p.m. on July 29, and 7 p.m. on July 31.
These staged readings which involves actors reading from a script, often sitting or standing with minimal movement are a unique opportunity for the playwright, audience and actors. Without a complete set, it is up to the actors to present the storyline in a minimalized way.
"It's much like reading a book," Hunter said. "It's completely imagination based. The scope of what they can present is limited, so everyone in the audience is on a different page."
Hunter explained that a staged reading is an important early step in the creation of a play.
It is "an opportunity for a playwright to hear his or her work out loud, which is a totally different experience than hearing the voices in your head," he said.
"From A to Zombie" follows a brother and sister who are abandoned by their parents during a zombie apocalypse, and who must survive with only a set of encyclopedias.
"Basically every line is a joke," Baclawski said.
Baclawski started writing plays during a playwriting class freshman Fall and wrote "From A to Zombie" last Winter term while in New Zealand. To prepare for the festival, he worked with a cast of six, in addition to director and theater professor Christian Kohn.
He said that he hopes his play will bring some comedy to campus, and is excited to see it performed for students and parents over Sophomore Family Weekend.
Flanagan's play, which follows a young woman named Erin as she struggles to make the transition to a liberal arts college atmosphere from a conservative religious upbringing, is also directed by Kohn.
Baclawski said the play is a "pertinent religious drama," and noted the importance of the issues it brings up.
All performances will take place in the Bentley Theater, and post-performance discussions with the writers, directors and cast members will allow audience members to ask questions and hear more about the festival and the playwriting process.
