Play In A Day
Play In A Day
By Beth Marshal Presents in conjunction with Penguin Point Productions
November 10, 2012
Lake Howell High School, Winter Park FL</strong>
“Play In A Day” (Orlando Version) has jumped locations again; it’s left the Orlando Shakes and taken up residence at the relatively remote Lake Howell High. High school has always given me the creeps, but Lake Howell has a beautiful theatre out on Dike Road. The other change for this version of PIAD is the format, writers now must produce a 60 second play (Theme: The Aftermath) and a 5 minute play (Theme: High School). That’s 12 pieces, so I’ll just skim the highlights:
The funniest 1 minute opened the show as Steven Pugh ripped off sunglasses and “Airplane” in “CSPIAD” (Written by Andy Hayes, Directed by Tara Corless). The same team closed the show with the Star Wars heavy “Episode 1/2: The Breakfast Alliance.” Trivia – Half the cast had never seen “Star Wars” and the other half had never seen “Breakfast Club.”
The most proactive title came from Aradhana Tiwari; “My Bald Vagina” (Direction by Jay T. Becker) squeezed its own title in about 6 times, and still had time for two acts. Here young Gwen Boniface has shaved for the first time and is about to disappoint here ballet partner Corey Price. High school is painful enough, no need to go that far.
The best ending came in “Tyler, There Is No Santa Claus” (W: Nicole Carson, D: Lauren O’Quinn Burns). Apparently there’s no time limit on believing in supernatural forces, and I give the writer double bonus points for including the word “Etiological.”
The best five minute play came from Jay T Becker (D: Brennan Nicely) for “The John Hughes Blues”, six students each have an inner monolog as they sit though the platitudes of graduation ceremony. These ranged from career issues to fashion problems. Personally, every time I sit through graduation speech I wonder how they can make them so boring.
The most cynical piece was “Teachers Lounge” (W: Eric Pinder, D: Laurel Clark), Brett Carson subtexts “Why Give a damn?” Alexander Mrazek replies ‘I used to give a damn.” and Candy Heller sums up with “Damn you all.” Education is a miracle – it happens at all.
Lastly, the most minimal play came from Rob Anderson (D: Jim Cundiff). Three words long, “The Aftermath” was the single 60 second play that clocked in at 60 seconds.
All around, a good effort, all of these productions had something to offer and crammed quite a bit into their short time frame.
For more information on Beth Marshall Presents visit http://bethmarshallpresents.wordpress.com/
And for more information on Penguin Point Productions visit
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Penguin-Point-Productions/205168979548009</em>
