Since we have all been pent up inside our dorm rooms or living in the library with our faces glued to books studying for midterms and haven’t gone out into the real world in over a month because of the Siberia that awaited us outside, make your weekend a relaxing and fun-filled one.
The Drama House is presenting a plethora of free performances for three nights only that are just what the doctor ordered. Actsimum Overdrive is composed of three one-act plays written, directed and/or performed by your fellow UR students that will take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. in the Drama House.
You are probably wondering, how interesting can one act plays really be? The Drama House has really outdone themselves this year and have their bases covered with this trio of intriguing short plays. Two of the plays were hand-selected by the directors from a compilation written by today’s top playwrights called Love’s Fire. These masters of drama were commissioned to absorb a Shakespearean sonnet, breath Love’s Fire into the antique verses of passion, lust and desire and create stirring dramas.
In Bitter Sauce, written by Eric Bogosian and directed by sophomore Kelly Smith, we are eavesdropping on a confession of an engaged woman on the night preceding her marriage. She has been cheating on her fiance with a hunk-of-burning-love biker and decides to come clean. The other sonnet-based piece is The General of Hot Desire, written by Jon Guare and directed by junior Matt Rodano. It is set in your typical college classroom where several students are trying to understand and interpret the sentiments of Shakespeare’s sonnets. This play becomes a play within a play as the actors perform a retelling of the creation story.The third in the series, was written and directed by junior Adam Litz, a fresh new playwright .
Artistic Integrity (How to Get Girls to Take Off Their Clothes) will have its World Premiere on Thursday night. This is Litz’ first play that has gone to production, even though he has several plays under his belt. “If you looked at the original script and saw the performance, you would see something completely different,”Litz said.”The actors input brought a lot to the story and transformed it.” He describes his piece as a “college buddy comedy but smarter than the average piece with inside jokes that Rochester students will get.” Litz’ sophomoric attempt at comedy was only put into production because his brother laughed when he read it, so Litz figured it had made the cut. If Adam’s brother is right, Artistic Inegrity promises to be a witty, refreshing play that will definitely make you laugh.
Attending Actsimum Overdrive would also be a great way to get to know the Drama House residents if you are interested in living there next year. They encourage any and all who are curious or have any questions about what they are up to on the edge of the Fraternity Quad, to show up at a performance.
The Drama House will also be having an Open House on Sunday, March 2 from 9-11 a.m. for those inquiring minds who want to participate in exciting performance with some talented people.
As college students, we always need culture to enrich our mundane lives and can always use an escape from our hectic schedules. Check out the Drama House’s short play extravaganza on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. in the comfy, cozy main room of the Drama House.
Saperstein can be reached at lsaperstein@campustimes.org
