Written by: Rebecca Straits (rjs006@marietta.edu)
On October 18th, Alpha Psi Omega had its 20th annual New Plays in One Day Festival at the
Hermann Fine Arts Center. The festival showcased five different plays, all written, rehearsed,
and acted out in one day. The plays took place in a “black box” theater and used props to set the
scenes of the plays. This year, the theme of the festival was “serenade”.
The first play was named “The Pancake List,” written by alumni Kyra Cutsail and had two
characters simply named Boy (Jackson Vargo) and Girl (Maggie Somerville). “The Pancake list”
was set in a rundown diner and follows the interaction between Boy and Girl as they share
memories of the past. The play was like watching two people interact for the first time in years,
which added a lot of awkward charm to the short play.
The second play was “Yesterday” by alumni Andrea Neutzling; the best way to describe this
play was strange and amusing. It followed the story of three characters, starting with Cece (Kaira
Gulett) as she is drugged and (though it is only implied) killed by the two crazed antagonists
Damon (Nathan Sloan) and Jess (Juliannah Haudenshild). This play was weird, but the actors did
a great job making the play entertaining.
The third play was “Keep Smiling” by alumni Kylee-Beth Strader. The play was comedic but a
little hard to follow at times. Like “yesterday,” it also had three characters: Shelly (Hinata
Sotsuda), Wild (Finn Hall), and Poe (Wyatt Hercules). This play was set in a tattoo shop and
follows the story of Wild, an extremely superstitious tattoo artist, and Shelly and Poe, who are
both just trying to get a tattoo. Though the play was a little hard to follow at times, it didn’t take
away from the audience’s enjoyment as the play had many visual gags, making it overall
comedic and enjoyable.
The firth play was “Kill Your Darlings,” written and co-written by Alumni Jeremy Jusek and
Rose Wardlow. This play was longer than the others and was cut into two acts. It was a fan
favorite and was brimming with comedy and drama. The first act follows author Tori
McMatthews (alumni Victoria Humphrey) as she deals with the annoying Chadwick (Clay Siag)
and Derek Writermanperson (alumni Leo Isaacs). Both Clay Siag and Leo Isaaca also played
audience members during the first act. The second act once again follows Tori McMatthews as it
is revealed that she is a vampire and she kills Derek Writermanperson and Chadwick. One of the
most comedic parts of the show was during the second act when Tori was chasing Chadwick
around the stage. It reminded me of one of those scenes in Scooby-do where the monster would
chase the mystery gang through a series of corridors.
The final play was “The Totally Bizarre Abduction of Stewart Taylor” by alumni Dylan Todd
Brown. This play was weird but entertaining and ended the festival with a bang. The play
follows the human Stewart (Declan Garrett*) and the alien, Syl (Kynsingten McMasters), as she
tries to convince Stewart to let her abduct him so she can complete alien high school in a series
of shenanigans and a few dance scenes.
The Alpha Psi Omega’s 20th annual New Plays in One Day Festival was overall enjoyable and
entertaining. The plays took place in the Hermann Fine Arts Center and were free admission for
all.
The Hermann Fine Arts Center has its first showing of “Ride the Cyclone” on November 14
at 8 pm. To keep up with the Theatre Department’s productions this year, visit them at
marietta.edu/theatre-season.
