Innovative is a term that is most often used whenever something is considered to be forward looking or ahead of current thinking.
Right now, Jared Mezzocchi ’07 is doing something innovative.
Mezzocchi is a senior with a double major in Film and Theatre, a star performer in the upcoming Theatre Fairfield production of “The Shadowbox,” a writer and director for the student-created television show, “The Aughts”, and this April he’s going to combine the screen and the stage in his own production, “The One Stoplight in Hollis.”
“[Film and theatre] are brother and sister,” Mezzocchi said.
That’s why the amalgamation set to be used for “The One Stoplight” is of paramount importance to Mezzocchi. He hopes that it might help bring other film/theatre productions into the norm, as Mezzocchi has made a point of how, in his own experience, it seems like the two are almost intentionally kept apart.
“There are no classes that link [film and theatre],” Mezzocchi noticed. “The two departments are separate right now, and there has to be a way to bridge the two.”
That’s exactly what Mezzocchi’s trying to do, and it was this kind of thinking that began a sequence of events that led to “The One Stoplight in Hollis.”
Conceptually, production began two years ago after a conversation with one of Mezzocchi’s professors, Dr. LoMonaco. It was ultimately suggested to Mezzocchi that he test the idea, which led to the creation of the precursor to “The One Stoplight”: a 15-minute short for Theatre Fairfield’s production of “A Class Act”. The short featured Mezzocchi and fellow senior Jodie Pfau ’07 dramatically moving in and out of filmed scenes, and on and off-stage for live performances
“That [short] worked really well,” Mezzocchi noted. “From there, I saw what worked and what didn’t…so to correct that I wrote ‘The One Stoplight in Hollis’.”
The “One Stoplight in Hollis,” currently in pre-production, is slated to be presented in the Quick Center during April 26 through April 29 in the Wien Experimental Theatre. It will feature three large screens onstage, as well as a cast of 11 actors fluidly moving on and off-screen throughout the show, using a technique that Mezzocchi developed.
Acting talent is diverse and includes Fairfield University students as well as professionally-trained actors, some of whom are members of such unions as the Stage Actor’s Guild and the Actor’s Equity Association.
Some of these people have expressed a very sincere desire to be involved with Mezzocchi’s project. Perhaps more importantly, just about all of them have been amazed with the aura of professionalism “Stoplight” seems to exude.
“The devotion and commitment levels of all actors, students and professionals, have just been incredible,” said Mezzocchi.
But just as important to Mezzocchi is his production crew who have been, and still are, invaluable in the development process. Mezzocchi’s appreciation for his crew is not unshared.
“Mezzocchi’s a genius,” said Assistant Director Jeff Billingham ’09. Many others who work with Mezzocchi share Jeff’s sentiments.
Aside from those people, Jeff’s comments are backed up by the writing in the script that Mezzocchi wrote.
“Stoplight” is based off Mezzocchi’s own experiences with religion and the loss of his father years ago. It is also partially inspired by C.S. Lewis’s, A Grief Observed.
“I found a lot of parallels between how I was dealing with faith, grief and all of that,” Mezzocchi recalled.
The two-act production revolves around the afterlife of a man who has just passed away, leaving behind a wife and daughter, as well as the effect it has on the man and his family. The man is guided by an angel named Sophia through the good portions of his life and more importantly, the bad. In here is a theme that Mezzocchi holds to be significant.
“It’s a challenge of religion,” Mezzocchi asserted. “It really challenges the faith that I feel a lot of Christians are heading towards, where they’re dependent on God telling them what to do as opposed to finding God in all things.”
However, Mezzocchi does digress.
“When people think of this play, I don’t want it to be a religious dialogue at all, it’s not. It’s about family and connections. Religion is just a part of the momentum.”
When asked about the title, Mezzocchi noted that there is, in fact, only one stoplight in the center of the town of Hollis, NH, where Mezzocchi grew up. The thing is though, it seems like there are many more stoplights because of roads that curve back in towards the center of town. In “Stoplight,” no matter how hard the protagonist tries to get away from his darker memories, he always winds up back in them.
“It’s the theme of the story,” said Mezzocchi. “No matter how far, you’re always within yourself.”
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