(Photo by Marky) Jarrett Brown, Dez Brock, and Kelsie Wilson from “Harwood” thanked everyone for coming to the show.
From homosexuality in the 1940s to grammaphobia
Thursday, Feb. 6 marked the opening of the Student Production Association’s Winter Shorts program: an evening of six original plays written, directed and performed by the students.
Following a brief delay, the house opened and an audience of roughly two dozen entered the Blue Door Theatre. In true blackbox theater fashion the stage was sparsely dressed — simply a café table and a piece representing a countertop — both allowing and requiring the actors and the text to speak for itself.
When each play began, the house went dark and the piece’s title was projected onto the upstage wall. Specific themes began to occur as the evening went on tying the plays together with classical threads of love, loss, family and a man who, while under hypnosis, believed to be deathly allergic to one particular letter of the alphabet. Each short had between two and three actors and spanned anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes in duration.
The performances were as varied as the writing; exploring themes from homosexuality in 1940s America to estranged siblings reuniting under the banner of a dying patriarch. There was a delicate choreography between the actor, writer and director where each had their moment in the spotlight.
The standouts from the evening revealed themselves just before the intermission through the end of the program.
‘Mesmerized’ — written by Samuel Henthorne and directed by Dani Robinette — became an instant crowd favorite. Actors Ian Johnson and Isaac Dow had the entire audience laughing out loud. In the performance, Johnson displayed his bold choices and brave physical comedy chops while Dow elevated the Vaudevillian comedy as the perfect straight-man foil.
‘Coconut Cream Pie’ — directed by Tara Wibrew of the Oregon Contemporary Theater and featuring Amethyst Bates and Rebekah Hirons — grounded the evening with strong, authentic acting and poignant direction. The audience found themselves ears poised and focused on the two performers onstage as they reconciled with grief, perseverance and love.
The evening closed with the longest yet profoundly relevant piece for whoever has been in love.
Directed by Eric Braman and featuring Ashley Johansson, Savana Johnson, and Jade Weaver, ‘Soulbuds’ is not only a great name for the next potential dispensary in Eugene, but a beautiful experiment in long-form improvisation that was anchored by the strong acting choices of its three players. Each actor, playing multiple characters at times, brought weight and, most important, truth to their performances.
Performances are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Feb. 6, 7, 8 and 13, 14, 15 at 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, Feb. 9 and 16 at 2 p.m.; all in the Blue Door Theatre in Building 6.
