10-Minute Play Festival
A lot can happen in 10 minutes — rules are broken, fights break out and animals attack — especially if it’s packed onto a theatre stage.
The University of Idaho Department of Theatre Arts presents its 10-Minute Play Festival 7 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8 in the UI Kiva Theater across from the Memorial Gym. Time will be used to its fullest extent with more than 10 plays performed over the two-day run. General admission is $5 at the door, and UI students are free.
Each play is written, directed and performed by UI students. Director Erik Jansen chose his play, Rules by UI Master of Fine Arts graduate John Remington, because of its humor and clarity. The senior theatre student said the play deals with the difficulties of romantic relationships — especially when they involve navigating past the “friend zone.”
Jansen said he cast junior Tyler Elwell and senior Danielle Rehm for their on-stage chemistry. He said his goal is to create a believable — however tumultuous — relationship on stage.
“I hope (the couple) will make the audience very jealous,” he said.
Just because there is a 10-minute time limit, Jansen said, doesn’t mean actors can speed through the content.
“The 10 minutes has to be clear,” he said. “There has to be a beginning, middle and end.”
Jansen said he and his cast have been working in rehearsal twice a week since September to perfect the play and “get the most mileage out of jokes.”
Director Mille Rose Schacher said her play, The Cougar by alumnus Joshua Christensen, is witty yet aggressive as it follows the antics of a bounty hunter looking to claim debts owed. “Ivar,” played by senior Richard Sean Glen, is working for the recently deceased husband of “Renee,” played by senior Hillary Mosman. “Renee’s” harried past comes to light as the play progresses, and things only get worse when “Renee’s” new boyfriend “Tanner,” a small-town gangster played by freshman McKay Babb, comes to her rescue.
The ensuing debacle includes gunfire, Schacher said, something that required a special rehearsal. Working with assistant professor Chris DuVal, actors practiced techniques for firing and being “shot” by the starting pistol. DuVal has worked as a fight director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for more than 12 seasons.
Schacher, who acted in the department’s recent production of Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter by Julie Marie Myatt, also is a playwright. One of her plays, I Prefer the Taste of Cancer, also will be performed in the festival. The play is set in a restaurant and follows the interactions of its workers and what it takes to make the place run.
Having worked in the restaurant business for five years, senior Nick Giacalone said he knew he had to direct this play.
“It’s all about the life of serving in a restaurant, the ups and downs, the relationships you make and relationships you break,” he said. “So much happens behind the scenes.”
The University of Idaho Department of Theatre Arts presents its 10-Minute Play Festival 7 p.m. Dec. 7 and 8 in the UI Kiva Theater across from the Memorial Gym. Time will be used to its fullest extent with more than 10 plays performed over the two-day run. General admission is $5 at the door, and UI students are free.
Performance Schedule
Dec. 7
Rules by John Remington
Dressing in the Dark by Sandra Hosking
Ariel by John Remington
Intermission
The Days Last Appointment by J.C. Svec
Social Skill by John Remington
Cougar by Joshua Jon Christensen
Dec. 8
A Loving Pain by Jacque Peres
The Tenants by Steven Robert King
The Clip by Sandra Hosking
Ping Pong on a Train by Sarah Pappin
The Taste of Cancer by Millie Rose Schacher
In Plane Sight by Quinn Hatch
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Each play is written, directed and performed by UI students. Director Erik Jansen chose his play, Rules by UI Master of Fine Arts graduate John Remington, because of its humor and clarity. The senior theatre student said the play deals with the difficulties of romantic relationships — especially when they involve navigating past the “friend zone.”
Jansen said he cast junior Tyler Elwell and senior Danielle Rehm for their on-stage chemistry. He said his goal is to create a believable — however tumultuous — relationship on stage.
“I hope (the couple) will make the audience very jealous,” he said.
Just because there is a 10-minute time limit, Jansen said, doesn’t mean actors can speed through the content.
“The 10 minutes has to be clear,” he said. “There has to be a beginning, middle and end.”
Jansen said he and his cast have been working in rehearsal twice a week since September to perfect the play and “get the most mileage out of jokes.”
Director Mille Rose Schacher said her play, The Cougar by alumnus Joshua Christensen, is witty yet aggressive as it follows the antics of a bounty hunter looking to claim debts owed. “Ivar,” played by senior Richard Sean Glen, is working for the recently deceased husband of “Renee,” played by senior Hillary Mosman. “Renee’s” harried past comes to light as the play progresses, and things only get worse when “Renee’s” new boyfriend “Tanner,” a small-town gangster played by freshman McKay Babb, comes to her rescue.
The ensuing debacle includes gunfire, Schacher said, something that required a special rehearsal. Working with assistant professor Chris DuVal, actors practiced techniques for firing and being “shot” by the starting pistol. DuVal has worked as a fight director for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for more than 12 seasons.
Schacher, who acted in the department’s recent production of Welcome Home, Jenny Sutter by Julie Marie Myatt, also is a playwright. One of her plays, I Prefer the Taste of Cancer, also will be performed in the festival. The play is set in a restaurant and follows the interactions of its workers and what it takes to make the place run.
Having worked in the restaurant business for five years, senior Nick Giacalone said he knew he had to direct this play.
“It’s all about the life of serving in a restaurant, the ups and downs, the relationships you make and relationships you break,” he said. “So much happens behind the scenes.”