“Creation is the greatest thing a man can do,” said T.J Sullivan as he stepped into the role of French painter Gerard.
The dream of all artists is to see their creations on display for the public. This past weekend, Gerard’s creator and one other MTSU student had the chance to see that dream become a reality.
Held in Tucker Theatre, An Evening of Student-Written Short Plays consisted of two original plays written David Bennett, senior theater major, and Josh Ginsburg, senior theater major. In February, the plays received awards at the Region Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival 41 in Greensboro, N.C.
The evening began with “Bennett’s Portrait of a Mother and Son.” While at college Alex, played by sophomore liberal arts major Clint Randolph, tracks down the father that he never knew.
When he tells his mother June, played by freshman liberal arts major Leah Miller, that his father is coming from France to meet him, she warns Alex about trusting him. But her warning goes unheard as her son is captivated by the smooth-talking Gerard, played by Sullivan, who is not currently enrolled at MTSU.
After Bennett’s play, the audience was treated to Ginsburg’s play “Shards of Glass.” The father of brothers Mac, played by junior liberal arts major Andy Riggs, and Tyler, played by freshman theatre performance major Graham Shelton, has just passed away. The day before his funeral, the two brothers visit their old room and reflect on the memories that were created there.
The two plays complement each other well in tone and in the emotional response they create. Bennett’s play set the tone for the evening.
Bennett begins his play with humorous interactions between Alex and his parents, especially when he trying to connect with his father.
“My whole life I’ve had this image in my head,” said Alex. “I would have never guessed you were…”
“A painter,” responded Gerard with a wave of his hand.
“French!” said Alex in a loud and excited voice.
But those light-hearted moments soon disappear as Gerard and June are left alone and the audience sees the true relationship between the two.
By the end of the play, the audience has been through an emotional rollercoaster. It is hard for members of the audience to repress the urge to cry out when Gerard begins to beat June and her son.
After viewing the violent ending to “Portrait of a Mother and Son,” most would be relieved at the sight of two brothers sitting in their old bedroom reflecting on their childhood. The Winnie the Pooh décor also helped lure the audience into a false sense of security.
That relief soon turns to dread as viewers start to realize that the room holds dark and terrible memories for the two brothers. It is not the events that occurred there that are the most disturbing, but the feelings that Tyler has been secretly harboring for years.
One of the more striking elements of the two plays was how unpredictable they were. No one could have guessed how the stories were going to unfold. Each time viewers thought that they knew where the plays were headed, the writers threw inanother twist.
In Ginsburg’s play, it would have been easy for the play to be simply about the trauma that Mac suffered as a child. But he adds another element to the work by bringing in Tyler and his feelings about what happened to his brother.
“Shards of Glass” makes the audience think about the connection between family members. Through this play, audiences realize that sometimes the person who is affected the most is not the one who suffered the traumatic experience.
Bennett’s play also raises questions about family. However, his focus is more on what is means to be a parent.
Although Gerard is Alex’s biological father, no one who has viewed the play will dare call him a parent.
June is also biologically related to Alex, but that is not why she is considered to be a parent. Unlike Gerard, she is willing to go to extreme lengths to protect her son even at the risk of her own life.
In a way, the play also discusses the dangers of keeping secrets.
If June told Alex the truth about his father, he may not have sought out the older man. But because she wanted to protect her son from the evils in the world, she never mentioned Gerard, which caused Alex to search for him behind her back.
A strong point in both of the works was how they blended the dramatic elements with subtle clues to reveal the families’ secrets to the audience. In neither play was the secret ever clearly stated, but based on the dialogue and the acting it was clear what each person was hiding.
Overall, the acting was solid. At first Miller and Randolph appeared awkward; it seemed like they were brother and sister rather than mother and son. The plot continued to develop and the scenes became more dramatic, Miller transformed into the protective mother.
It was clear that the actors were passionate about their work. The fight scenes between June and Gerard and the two brothers are almost disturbing. At times they seemed so realistic that audience members were gasping in shock.
Though they were only about 30 minutes long, these two plays make it evident that MTSU has a wealth of talent in the field of theatre. The combination of the acting and the script made the characters believable and the experience enjoyable.
The plays will be presented as full productions at this year’s Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, which will be hosted by MTSU. Based on the production over the weekend, it is likely that the plays will be attention grabbers at the festival.
Student-written short plays wow audiences
Published: Monday, November 23, 2009
Updated: Monday, November 23, 2009
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