Last weekend, the New Works Festival consisting of four script-in-hand performances that were produced by some of the students of the Fairfield University community.
The audience was a decent size on the Saturday evening show that I attended. Anna Stabile ’07 said, “The Friday and Sunday shows were sold out. Friday’s show was the best though because we [the cast] feed off of their energy. I did wish more people were there for the Saturday afternoon show.”
The stage was garnished only by stools for the actors to sit and stand for their scripts. They were not fully costumed, but the outfits that they wore added to the play, especially the numerical shirts worn in Money Talks.
Even though I had previously attended the rehearsal for Thirty-Someone, seeing the final product on stage was amazing. I felt that the rehearsals paid off really well and you could tell this cast worked really hard on the festival.
Marie Camden ’05 said, “I thought the show was amazing and well performed. All four were performed, acted and written well.”
The actors had great stage presence, displayed emotions well and were full of energy. It felt like I was living vicariously through the actors. With a small cast of eleven actors having to play multiple roles in succession, they managed to morph into the next role really well.
“Money Talks had new and original comedy and Life Haunting was a good to end with and it was quite emotional,” Camden said.
Dede Tabak ’05 said, “It was cool just to have the words and the play stripped of all the superfluous extras. Sometimes it is hard to watch a play and focus on it and the meanings that it is trying to express when you have the costumes, lighting and the whole shebang.”
The festival really showed off the potential of all of the directors and writers. I look forward to seeing their next production, Dead Man, which will be performed Feb. 24-26 at 8 p.m. and 26-27 at 2 p.m.
The cast of New Works Festival consisted of Courtney Connolly, Ioanna Psaroudakis, Casey Regan, Jonathan Perez, Wendy Scola, Anna Stabile, Carly St. Pierre, Mike Tellerico and Mike Vendetti, Darci Fulcher, and Andrew Gaertner in the shows Thirty-Someone, Let It Be, Money Talks and Life Haunting.
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