Loss, sadness, inner demons, and even laughter – Theatre Fairfield’s production “Festival 2002” included all these emotions and more.
“Festival 2002” consisted of three student written plays including “Everything We Never Said”, “Lost, Found, and Remembered”, and “A Chance” with intermissions between each. In the PepsiCo Theatre, these plays were performed to a sold out crowd of between 75 to 100 people. I attended the Sunday matinee and was impressed by the quality of the plays performed.
The first play, “Everything We Never Said”, written by Virginia Moylan, ’02 told the story of a family coping with the aftermath of their father’s suicide.
It did a wonderful job of weaving the deceased father into the story of his family’s coping, but did not give itself away too quickly. The audience was initially not given much information about the characters, but throughout the action of the play pieces fit together and the story line became clear. I enjoy a play that doesn’t give itself away in the beginning, and the fact that the father in this play was dead was not made readily apparent.
The cast portrayed the denial of the family, the guilt each one felt over their father’s death, and their grieving process very well. Depressing, maybe, but the play was well written and well done.
“Lost, Found, and Remembered” written by Scott Ferguson’02, was also a rather sad story of a woman who lost her husband in a fire and has to rebuild her life afterwards.
Having had a rocky marriage to begin with due to her husband’s alcoholism (did I mention that the father in the first play had the same addiction?) the main character, Davina, must find a way to move on after his passing. However she is haunted by her deceased husband, and hounded by his well meaning but rather annoying younger brother. This play was exceptionally well written and well acted.
The incorporation of the ghost of Davina’s ex-husband throughout the “live” action between she and his younger brother was done with a lot of skill, and the flashbacks between present day and past events in the character’s life flowed easily throughout. Another sad story, but another well written play with a great cast.
“Festival 2002” ended on a lighter note, with “A Chance” written by Lara M. Eckler ’02. This play lightened the mood considerably by portraying an overbearing girlfriend trying to find her “replacement”.
Because she is going to Italy, Casey, the main female character, is trying to find her boyfriend a ‘replacement girlfriend’ through a dating service. The quirky characters that send in tapes are a great comic relief, but this play offered a lesson to be learned too. When the boyfriend, Ed, has a terrible first encounter with one of the potential new girlfriends, this play showed the audience that second chances can many times be worth it.
Also, it played off of the shallowness that can be found in many people, and lightheartedly portrayed the difficulty of the dating scene. This play was just what the audience needed after the two well done but sadder plays before it, and I really enjoyed it.
Bravo Theatre Fairfield for putting together an entertaining and impressive “Festival 2002.” It’s a shame for anyone who missed out on these performances, and for those who attended, I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did.
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