“It’s very, very popular with students,” said Bernadette Cheyne, this year’s festival coordinator. “It’s pretty much all done by students—that’s probably a big reason why it’s so popular.”
This year’s plays run the usual gamut of drama, comedy and mystery, with emphasis on surprise—and on desperate people.
There are sudden revelations in the encounter of desperate people “On A Train” (by Alan LaPolice, directed by Sophia Paulekas) and in a strange triangle that spans generations in “Letters” (by Lani Abels, directed by David Kenworthy). In “Systems of Oppression” (by Jessica Charles, directed by Sarah McKinney), two stories come together to reveal how a threatening man is himself threatened.
Drama and comedy mix as friends urge a depressed young woman to face divorce (“The Call” by Sarah McKinney, directed by Jessica Charles) and a friend helps a desperate young man to face reality—and the portents of 2012 (“The Sky Is...You Know” by Katie Dawson, directed by Frances Wittman).
Comedy and topicality combine with a man desperate to make his credit record disappear in “Paperwork” (by Sarah Harter, directed by Katie Dawson), and the desperate obsession for milkshakes from Toni’s comes at a high price in “Shake of the Gods” (by Tess Wilder-Cervantes, directed by Alan LaPolice).
This year as always, students submitted scripts to a faculty panel. Out of about 50 scripts, seven were selected. Students also direct and act in all the plays.
Also as in past years, many writers also direct (though never their own plays). Jessica Charles and Sarah McKinney, who acted together in “An Evening with Rumi” last semester, are unique in directing each other’s plays.
But the plays are all new—and so are most of the participants this year. That’s in marked contrast to last year, when many directors and writers had been involved in several past festivals.
“Most of the directors have never done the festival,” said student producer Christina Focht. “Usually there are several directors who know the process because they’ve been involved before, but this year I have to make sure everyone’s going through all the steps of production. It’s my job to make sure everybody—writers, designers and directors—are communicating and everyone’s on task.”
Students comprise the rest of the production team: Sarah Martens (stage manager), Telfer Reynolds (lighting designer) and Gabriel Holman (costume coordinator).
Also new this year is the faculty coordinator. Bernadette Cheyne has taken over for Margaret Thomas Kelso, who started the festival and is now Theatre, Film & Dance department chair. “At this point in the process, I try to help solve problems when they arise,” Cheyne said. “I’m also the length police. We insist that our ten minute plays are really ten minutes long.”
“It’s a tough form,” she said, “but it’s such a joy to see an idea developed in a way that’s just right for the ten minute format—any more and it would be gratuitous, any less and it wouldn’t be enough. A number of these plays really fit that category. They’re all quite good.”
The 13th Annual HSU 10 Minute Play Festival is performed Thursdays through Saturdays April 7-9, 14-16 at 7:30 PM and Sunday April 17 at 2 PM, in the Gist Hall Theatre on the HSU campus in Arcata. $5/$3 seniors and students, with a limited number of free seats to HSU students at each performance, from HSU Box Office (826-3928) or at the door. Produced by HSU Theatre, Film & Dance. http://HSUStage.blogspot.com.