“Student One Acts” impressed the audience , Dec. 1, with five one act plays written, produced and directed by Moorpark College students.
The well-attended performance that took place at the Performing Arts Center showed once again the potential of Moorpark students.
John Loprieno, theatre arts department chair and coordinator of „Student One Acts”, guided the future writers, producers, directors and actors along the production process of the plays.
“I think they all did a good job of mixing humour and seriousness together,” said Loprieno.
“Student One Acts” is produced every semester by students of the theatre production (acting and production) and stage direction classes. They are in charge of every part of the plays from writing and directing to costuming and styling. This semester a total of 10 plays are shown, divided into five per performance.
The performance on Dec. 1 included five very different plays.
“Godlike Hubris”, written and directed by Mike Hixon, took the audience to a heavenly place. According to Loprieno the difficulty of this play was to take Hixon’s “depth of knowledge and make it accessible to an audience.”
“The Toss Up” was written and directed by Melisa Tellio. It describes the dilemma of Brookelyn, who has to decide whether or not she will give her boyfriend a second chance after he cheated on her.
Direk Cartwright wrote “Leader of Soldiers”, bringing his own story of serving in Iraq to life.
“It was kind of easy to write because everything is pretty much based on true events and true stories,” said Cartwright.
The play was directed by Mary Jones.
“The Bridge” was written by Jeremy Barbee, who already graduated from Moorpark College, and directed by Zohaib Choudhry. The play is about two strangers who meet in a coffee shop and make a connection.
Last but not least the musical “With Grace Under Feathers” is a comedic romance about a girl who herds ducks in a town full of cowboys and longs for acceptance. Writer and director Jenna Zollman said that the original title was “Brokedeck Mountain” and that the character was lesbian, but “it wasn’t very realistic.” The songs were composed by assistant director TJ Evens.
Moorpark student Brandon Tellio thought everything went smoothly and he very much enjoyed all the performances.
“I am a little bit biased since my sister wrote ‘The Toss Up’, but they were all great,” he said.
All in all it was a successful evening for the students, as well as the audience, who had the opportunity to give feedback at the end. In Loprieno’s opinion this part is important as “a lot of scripts and screenplays tend to evolve over time”. The audience seemed very pleased and the cast only garnered praise for their productions.
The first set of plays, called Bill A, will take place on Dec. 3, 7 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Bill B, which is the second set that shows five different plays, will be performed on Dec. 2, 8 and 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $ 15 for adults and $ 10 for students, seniors, children and staff and can be purchased at the Box Office under 805-378-1485. Advance tickets can be bought online at www.moorparkcollege.edu/PAC and are 20% cheaper.
