22nd Annual One-Act festival hosted at Forest Park
By: Devin Kinloch
-Staff Writer-
The curtain opens and characters fall from scripts onto the stage. The weekend of September 14-16 the College Theatre Council presented the 22 Annual One-Act Festival hosted by STLCC-Forest Park. This brought four schools together of both two and four-year degrees.
Meramec Theatre Program Coordinator Michelle Rebollo said the festival gives students a chance to get exposure.
“(It presents) great exposure (and shows) we do have theatre at the two year level but also, good college theatre in the area,” Rebollo said.
The festival showcases the talents of students attending nearby colleges and universities allowing them a chance to not only catch a performance of their peers, but also get to know one another. Unlike a motion picture, theatre presents the audience with a completely unique experience each showing.
Energy flows from the actors to the audience giving off a new atmosphere that may never be felt in exactly the same way.
Meramec performed “Hold for Three” written by Sherry Kramer and directed by Molly Bené. Alyssa Coleman played the part of Bartey, a character on the beach with – two friends waiting for the beautiful sight of the moonrise over the water even though she is not as enthusiastic as the others. Coleman, who has performed in a college play before, had been told she had the part only three days prior to opening night. She proved herself highly reliable with how quickly she picked up her lines and stage movements.
David Robinson took the role of Ed, the male friend who holds his breath (for three minutes) and had a lot to say on stage despite having no lines. From his facial expressions that begged for air to his thunderous flailing about from exhaustion, Robinson kept the audience entertained.
Robinson said the role could be a very daunting task.
“I would walk away from rehearsals drenched in sweat because we would run the show so many times,” Robinson said.
Kelly Kottemann played Scottie, the girl who motivates Ed to hold his breath through her wildly imaginative situations.
Kottemann said the cast had a good energy with each other.
“I loved David and Alyssa, the other actors! I’m so glad I got to know them. On the first night of the performance the other two actors and I ran the play for the other actors that were in the green room at the time. We pretended we were in slo-mo at random times…not sure why,” Kottemann said.
Coleman said one of her favorite moments consisted of an exercise called, “The Moment Before” where the actors improvise a scene to help enhance their ability to get into character.
The festival is a way to reach out to the community by showing what St. Louis theatre has to offer as well as to bring students from different schools together. At the end of the festival, walking through the green room, actors could be heard telling those from other schools to “add me on Facebook.” The performers had fun together.
Bené said she enjoyed bringing the students together and showing them how to not only direct their lines (or in Robinson’s case, actions), but work the stage to keep the audience feeling as though they are with the actors.
When asked about the best thing about the festival she stayed with the trend of bringing people together.
“I like seeing other students/schools’ work. I was interested in seeing other plays and what talent all the schools have,” Bené said.
