This past weekend, Longwood's Theater Department put on their sixth annual Zero-Sixty Playwriting Competition, in which six plays were performed by a number of different Longwood Students. Most of the plays have very little in terms of set and props and are mostly designed based off of lighting, strong acting, and script.
The first performance was "Three Women Laughing (eating salad)" by Laura Nessler. The actors included Makenzie Matthews, Shea McCuller, Ravynn Sykes, Abbie Swanson and Trent Williams. "This is my first acting debut ever. I am not a theater major, I am actually a Communications Major, and one of my friends wanted me to try out and I ended up getting in another play, so there I was, Zero-Sixty," said Sykes when asked about how she got involved.
What unfolded before the audience was three women who were a typical photo on the wall of a grocery store in the produce isle. The play cleverly crafted the women as commentators on life and why it is they pose the way they do. All the while, they are dreamers of true life and talk mostly of love. It is during this talk that they watch a young clerk kiss her boyfriend. The act was very comedic
and well-performed by the actors, with strong witty commentary from the women eating their 'salads.' The second performance was a very emotional journey called "47 Minutes," by Joshua Michael French. The play was about 9/11 and how it might have unfolded for three very different parties that were involved in the attacks, including a flight attendant, played by Sarah Breitenberg, a firefighter, played by Michael Whitlock, and a business man, played by Tyler Nobles. The script was very cleverly interwoven so that the characters' lines inter-wove from scene to scene. Very little props were used and the lighting was a way of flashing from character to character and scene to scene. It was highly emotional and very chilling to watch.
Next up was "A Few Good PB&J," by Jeremy Kehoe. It was a much needed comedic act after the dramatic one before it. The play followed Laura, a mother (Molly Baneck), as she makes her son, Jacob (Colin Williams) a peanut butter and jelly
sandwich. From there, her son begins to mock and disrespect her and it is at that point that she rages at him about her life and her ungrateful marriage, all in context to appreciating the little things like a peanut butter sandwich. In the end, the husband, played by Stan Nowicki, comes in and takes the son's side. He drags Laura away as she screams. It was a very dramatic and funny piece about the hardships of being a mother in the 21st century, and well-acted.
After a short ten-minute intermission, Shea Mc- Culler and Molly Baneck took to the stage again. The play they performed was entitled "Japanese Schoolgirl Night," by James McLindon. It was about a professor and student, and it was very well-acted and funny. Both McCuller and Baneck did a great job keeping the audience laughing as McCuller, the student, told one ditzy story after an- other about her life while the distraught Professor, Baneck, attempted to understand and help her.
"Sum of Your Experience," by Trace Crawford, was next. It was a simple scene, made all the more dramatic by single spotlight lighting. There is a man (Tyler Nobles) and a thief (Jimmy Mello). It was reminiscent of "Fight Club," as the thief demands that the man give him his memories and forces him to painfully talk about his unhappy and unfulfilling life. Nobles did a great job portraying an unhappy and then reinvented man, while Mello thoroughly scared audiences with his dark insistence and waving gun.
Last but not least was "A Simile," by Robert B Boulrice. In it, a young girl named PaN-TeeZ (Abbie Swanson) is a groupie for an aspiring rapper, Tastee Cakes (Trent Williams). When asked about playing Tastee Cakes, Williams said, "I had to work really hard on getting into character because being a "thug" was hard for me. I even had to receive individual coaching from the director, Sarah Anglim, and a senior theater performance major, Justin Heavner." The two go to her father (Tyler Nobles) to beg for 'two Benjamins' in order to attend a rap concert. From there, the father attempts to evaluate the man his daughter is with and challenges the two to speaking proper English.
What follows is a comedic act that put a final and resounding good note on an overall great night. The performances themselves were intimate and energetic, and over- all seemed well-received and enjoyed by audience members. "People, I think, received the play pretty well, took in some deep thoughts that the plays were giving to others and the metaphors we were throwing out," said Sykes.
