Two student directors showed Oswego their interpretations of one-act plays from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 in Tyler Hall’s Lab Theatre.
The showcase allowed the audience to experience both plays, beginning with “Screaming, Humming,” directed by Tess Uline, and followed by “Foreplay, or: The Art of the Fugue,” directed by Bianca Stevenson.
Uline spent lots of time reading plays before selecting their show.
“As a queer person, there’s not a lot of stories out there of messy queer people,” Uline said. “They’re usually like these perfect, don’t-do-anything-wrong types. As enjoyable as that can be, I also really enjoy watching stories about queer people who are very human, and they do make mistakes, and they aren’t perfect.”
Uline’s selection, “Screaming, Humming,” written by Hannah Manikowski, focuses on Heather, an art-school dropout turned pizza parlor employee. Heather is in a complex relationship with her partner Michael, and finds consolation in her coworker Stephanie on their cigarette breaks. SUNY Oswego’s events calendar describes the show as “a lesbian coming-of-age story involving goldfish, dead-end-jobs, and the simultaneous beauty and heartache present in liminality.”
Uline described the importance of the show’s message, which relates to growth and identity. “In the thanks section of our program, I actually said that the show is dedicated to anyone who doesn’t necessarily know who they are quite yet,” Uline said. “And that’s the thing, when do you really know who you are? The answer is never, because we’re always changing.”
Uline explained that Heather’s journey aligned with their own personal story.
“For a really long time, I struggled with trying to be a person that everyone would like, and everyone would get along with,” Uline said. “And after the last year or so, I was like ‘this isn’t worth it anymore.’ So finding a character that is kind of going on the same journey with more support than I had is really lovely.”
This semester was the first that involved two different student directors. Uline described that typically, one student is selected, but the department changed their approach this year. The only requirement Uline and Stevenson had for their shows was that they were only one act.
After a quick set change by the productions’ crew, “Foreplay” began. The story follows Chuck, who is on three different dates at three different points of his life. All three dates have one thing in common: miniature golf. Chuck was portrayed by three different actors, donned in bright yellow shirts and cargo shorts, who were all onstage together on their own dates. Full of innuendos and tacky golf humor, “Foreplay” had the audience laughing throughout the entirety of its performance.
Max Collins, a sophomore and theater major, played the second version of Chuck, who is unsuccessful in his miniature golf courting endeavors.
Max described that the three actors playing the versions of Chuck spent a lot of time in rehearsal matching the movements between the three actors. “Me, Jude and Zion, the three Chucks, we would work on our physicality and our movements, even just down to the way we would walk and talk, how we hold our golf clubs, [and] how we prepare ourselves,” Max said.
Max said he enjoyed the process of watching the students directors bring themselves to their plays.
Photo via: SUNY Oswego
