Mamet inspires original works by U of I students in one-act festival

Smart, snappy rapid-fire dialogue, quirky characters and menacing situations are trademarks of a David Mamet work. The award-winning playwright is the author of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and a trove of other stage and screen works. Mamet’s style is the inspiration behind this year’s One-Act Play Festival, “Three Uses of the Knife,” produced by UI Theatre Arts.

Over three days, more than 14 original plays, written, directed and performed by UI students and grads, will debut at 7:30 p.m., May 4, 5, 6, 2016, at The Forge Theater, 404 Sweet Avenue on the UI campus. Admission is free for UI students and $10 for the public. Tickets will be available at the door.

“Mamet writes in the way that most people talk,” says Nathaniel Quinn, a master’s candidate in directing. “On the page it looks abrasive. When you break it down and find the rhythm, it’s very fun.”

Quinn is directing “Sexual Absurdity in Chicago” by Cory Williamson, a 2013 B.F.A. in performance graduate.

“Cory has nicely captured the way Mamet rolls off the tongue,” Quinn says. The play is about a couple in conflict, sexually-driven and tension-filled, with some comic release to lighten the mood.

Anita Packwood, a junior in Theatre Arts, was initially attracted to performing but she took a directing class “on a whim” and fell in love with it. “You’re not doing just one thing, you’re supporting the text, the actors, everything,” she says.

Packwood directs “The Assumption” by David Harlan, a 2010 M.F.A. graduate in playwriting and directing. The idea for the play was inspired by Mamet’s “Oleanna.”Packwood got the script after she had already cast the play, but through discussions with Harlan, she knew the general direction of the play which involves a father and daughter and miscommunication.

The One-Act Festival provides Emily Melgard, a junior focused on theatre stage management, with her first opportunity to direct. In addition, she performs in “The Eclectic Café”.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she says. She directs “My Lucky Pen” by Vinecia Coleman. “With directing, you get the opportunity to help bring a script to life,” Melgard says.