Plays to showcase student directors
By Gall Host and Ann Nallo
FOR THE COLLEGIAN
This weekend, two first-year
graduate degree candidates for
directing will show off their
directing skills. The plays run
the gamut of emotions, ranging
from fear to grief and hopeless
ness, but each maintains humor
that keeps the audience involved.
While the plays focus on two
totally different time periods, the
shows both center on the
humanity that exists during
times of trouble and strife.
`Strange Snow'
Matt Toronto will present
Strange Snow by Stephen Met
calfe tonight and tomorrow in 6
in the Arts Building.
This genre-breaking play deals
with the after-effects of the Viet
nam War and how war can dam
age the relationships between
people, especially family and
returned soldiers.
The title is an allusion to a line
in Shakespeare's play A Mid
summer Night's Dream. Though
the exact meaning is not com
pletely apparent, the title seems
to draw a comparison between
the Vietnam War and a bad
dream.
Strange Snow revolves
around three characters: Joseph
Meggest (Megs) and Dave, two
Vietnam veterans, and Dave's
sister, Martha.
During battle, Megs, Dave and
their comrade Bobby make a
pact to go fishing on the opening
day of the season upon returning
home.
Megs still wishes to fulfill the
promise once he and Dave are
home, but Dave wants to forget
about everything that happened
in Vietnam.
When Megs shows up on
Dave's doorstep early one morn
ing, he becomes the catalyst for
change in Dave's life, as well as
Martha's.
"Megs is the outside force that
turns the dysfunctional family on
its ear He helps Dave and
Martha to heal," said Andrea
Day (graduate-acting), who plays
Martha
Strange Snow deals with uni
versal themes, including the pain
of losing people, guilt and the
trauma of war.
"It is also a play about three
characters coming to terms with
and accepting the past so that
they can have a future," said
Jack Landry (graduate-acting),
who plays Dave.
While the show revolves
around the topic of war, Strange
If you go
What 'Strange Snow'
Time: 5:30 p.m. tonight and
7:30 p.m. tomorrow
Place: 6 Arts Building
Details: Admission is free
What: 'Bent'
Time: Tomorrow at 5:30 and
Saturday at 8 p.m.
Place: 119 Arts Building
Details: Admission is free
Snow also contains elements of a
romantic comedy based on the
relationship that blossoms
between Megs and Martha.
"It's about war and love,"
Toronto said. "It is a show that
deals with pain but that has
comic undertones."
The poignancy of Strange
Snow immediately inspired
Toronto to choose this show.
"This play speaks to our gen
eration because war is on our
mind," said Toronto. "We may
not be right in the middle of it,
but it affects us through our
friends and family who are
involved"
`Bent'
Julio Matos (graduate-the
atre) will be directing Martin
Sherman's Bent, which is about
a series of events in one man's
life during the WWII era, tomor
row and Saturday.
The man struggles through
his journey from freedom to
bondage and to freedom again.
The story follows Max, the main
character, through a few years of
his life, mostly consisting of
scenes in a concentration camp.
As a homosexual male in a
concentration camp, Max is
treated even lower than most of
the other prisoners. The perse
cution of homosexuals has
always been largely overlooked
and unstudied and Bent shows
one person's experience in deal
ing with this issue.
However, Maths said Bent is
not a play about homosexuals,
nor is it about the Holocaust, in
Particular.
"It is another story about a
man confronting the mirror and
confronting himself," Maths said.
In this way, Maths hopes to
connect with his audience by
creating a work that people can
relate to.
Matos' main goal is not to
change anyone's mind but to
teach tolerance and understand
m&
Max's actions may seem
Daniel keel/Collegian
Jeremy Rubenstein (Junior-theater), left, and Sean Bradley (senior-theater), right, rehearse. a scene of
Bent, a dark comedy directed by Julio Matos (graduate-theater).
unimaginable to those who have
not been in the same situation;
however, the actors strive to
truthfully portray the events of
Max's life.
"Some of the events hi the play
are inconceivable, but we are
doing our best to replicate how a
human being would react in
those situations," said Mike
Lewis (senior-musical theater),
who plays Rudy, Max's boyfriend.
Despite this heavy subject
matter, Matos is trying to treat
the play, mostly, as a comedy.
"The only way we can deal
with what is going on is through
humor" Maths said.
The concept of using comedy
as an intricate part of a play that
takes place during WWII may
seem contradictory.
Despite this, Maths hopes that
the audience will find through
the play that humor exists in
every life, no matter what the cir
cumstances.
"It will be a little jarring, but it
Daniel Freel/Collegian
will also be entertaining" Maths
said
Maths specifically chose the
location in the Arts Building
because the audience and the
actors can share one uninter
rupted space. There is no sepa
rate stage, which gives the audi
ence a feel of being part of the
action.
"Bent is not a typical linear
narrative," said Matos. "It is a
series of happenings in one small
space about one man's survival."