Students forego sleep for Play in a day event

By Ellen Trinklein     1/23/13 6:00pm

At 7 p.m. on Jan. 18, McMurtry College hosted a meeting of 22 students: six writers, four directors and 12 actors. With only the Rice Players' thematic guideline off which to work, these students wrote, directed and performed four one-act plays within 24 hours. The theme of this year's fourth annual Play in a Day event: "I can't feel my (blank)!"

According to producers Rachel Landsman and Maggie Sulc, the event is divided into three sections: writing, directing and acting.

Writers have from 8 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. the next day to create a 10-minute, one-act play. From 6:30 a.m. until 8 a.m., directors take over to choose plays and to create a vision. From 8 a.m. until 7 p.m., actors work with directors to learn their parts and to make the play a reality.

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Play in a Day gives students who are novice actors the chance to experiment in theater, and gives students who are already comfortable on stage the chance to try different roles.

"I got into theater by doing this kind of event," Sulc, a Martel College senior, said. "I like it because it gives Rice students the opportunity to try theater without the same level of uber-commitment as a normal play."

McMurtry freshman Landsman, expressed her appreciation for the flexibilities in theater roles that Play in a Day offered with its quick script-to-stage turnaround.

"[Play in a Day] is also an opportunity for people who already do theater to try a new role," Landsman said. "I usually act, but I want to try directing or writing and see how it goes."

Actors proved their zeal and amenability to writers with lines such as, "Yes, I will take off clothes for you - within reason." Despite hectic last-minute additions and long hours, the show on the evening of Jan. 19 featured four impressive and creative comedies.

The first play, written by Brown College senior Ben Seidensticker, directed by McMurtry sophomore Grant Raun, and starring McMurtry sophomore Juan Cruz, Lovett College freshman Nicole Moody, and Hanszen College seniors Nicki Pariseau and Jarvis Sam, was titled "The Marionette." The play was about a house spirit that would not let the homeowner sell the house. Although a simple plot, it was hilarious because of its strong characters, which included a cardio-cooking instructor and a dancing, juggling, Mexican, spiritconjured man.

"[Play in a Day] was really scary." Seidensticker said. "It was the first time I wrote and had a play performed without input. It was really cool

just to see people take my work and have it grow. It went phenomenally."

The second play was "Life is What You Make It," written by McMurtry junior Daniel Burns, directed by Hanszen junior Audrey Chao, and starring Jones College sophomore John Paul Peng, Sid Richardson College junior Kara van Schilfgaarde, and Courtney Svatek (Hanszen '12).

This play was undoubtedly the most creative. It was about the meanings given to an "artistic" box of Oreos placed in the middle of the stage, which came to represent both one character's mother and another character's god.

Both hilarious and insightful, the transformation of a box of Oreos into a source of conflict made this play a great satire.

Third came the most sexual play of the bunch, "Little Blue Pill," written by McMurtry freshman Olivia Lammers and Hanszen freshman Veronica Riggs, directed by Landsman, and starring Duncan College sophomore Laurel Bingman, Hanszen sophomore Becca Ashton Kellner, and McMurtry freshman Corey Palermo.

In this play, a character who could not feel his you-know-what due to accidentally taking the wrong pill for a headache confronted a tragically overconfident doctor and her soft-spoken medical intern. This play was a success because of both its good acting and its script, which overflowed with clever innuendo.

The event ended with a play written by Baker College sophomores Dennis Budde and Andrew Stout, directed by Burns, and starring Wiess College senior Brian Biekman, Baker freshman Sylvia Omozee, and Will Rice College freshman Abraham Younes, called "Ween-Up, Clean-Up: Dirty, Then Clean!"

In this aptly titled play, two recent Master of Business Administration school graduates decide to start a stripping and cleaning business, but the trick is on the audience. The audience is led to believe a female hire named Candy is the stripper, only to be called "sexist pigs" at the end when it is revealed that one of the male MBA school graduates was, in fact, the stripper.

This play's great acting, especially by Younes, and its involvement and, yes, ridicule of the audience made "Ween-Up, Clean-Up" a great way to end the show.

Over 24 hours and four plays later, Hamman Hall resonated with the sound of audience applause.

"It is long, tiring and totally worth it," Pariseau said.

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