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Disclaimer:
The reviewers' opinions are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheatreLouisville.org. |
Peer Reviews Walden Theatre's 2007 Young Playwrights Festival By Deborah Ward Entire contents are copyright © 2007 and written by Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.
Although this was not my first experience with student theatre, it was my first experience with an all student-written and student-performed plays. The evening began with a welcoming which included a few "too crude" jokes by the emcee "The Tuxedo Dude," but cleaned up nicely with an original funny tune. The setup for the evening was unique and piqued my interest quickly. The audience was divided into four different groups based on ticket color. There were four separate plays, each in various rooms of the theatre. Instead of set changes, the audience changed. Each play was unique, but I was pleasantly entertained by the teen writers' concept of characters. All characters in all the plays were adults somewhere between the ages of 20-late 30s. Their interpretations of adult behavior has continued to make me reflect on my own actions. Each play lasted about 20 minutes. The "Wow, How Did You Fit So Much Humor into 20 Minutes" award goes to a whimsical piece titled Prague Dancin'. This somehow managed to parody every aspect of American culture from overpaid, poor-role-model sports superheroes to the attempts of our society to "save" everyone from everything. The simplicity of the costume and stage setting and the continual "no dramatic pauses" acting added to the message, which somehow manage to stay non-political, non-religious, and unbiased (if possible), of our need to look in the mirror and laugh at ourselves. The "I Can't Believe This Was Written by
a Teenager" award goes to Ms. Caitlin Willenbrink
with her production of Brain
Freeze. This
was not only wonderfully written and directed,
but the teen actors seemed to have such a grasp
of their roles that it was difficult for me to
believe that I was watching a play and not real
life. The story of an overstressed, highly depressed
agoraphobic sister agonizing over having her homeless
brother to care for was mesmerizing. The character
dialogue showed tension, love, distress, and confusion.
When I asked Ms. Willenbrink what it was like to
write such a play and then turn it over to be directed
and interpreted by someone else without her input,
she replied, "It's like giving your child
to someone else. It's difficult at first, but I
am very pleased with the outcome." So were
we.
Walden Theatre's 2007 Young Playwrights
Festival 1123 Payne Street Posted Feb. 14, 2007
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