Volume CXXXIII, Number 13 January 25, 2002 f

One-act festival gears up with auditions
TED REINERT
STAFF WRITER

Bowdoin's student-run theater group Masque and Gown holds its annual One Acts February 14-16, 8 p.m. at Wish Theater. The three plays, all written by students, were selected to be performed by the Masque and Gowns Board from ten to fifteen submissions.

Auditions are today from 2 to 5 for the One Acts, as well as two other Masque and Gown shows, "Baal," directed by Ian LeClair, and "Stagepins," directed by Allie Lindel.

"In accordance with Masque and Gown tradition, we have a few off the wall pieces for people to see," said One Acts coordinator Jennifer Ogborne.
""Monomania," written by Marshall Escamilla, is a staccato comedy set in a coffee shop," said director India Hill. "Each of the characters has their own neuroses - the conversation a cacophony of concerns not unfamiliar to Bowdoin students. It starts with an ending and ends with a start, and somewhere in the middle is a Mormon."

"Lab Rats/Eddy and the Chimp Child" is written by James Nachbaur and directed by Selena McMahan. "It's about trying to find a way out of being stuck," said McMahan. "A college student working in a lab finds himself in the middle of a breeding experiment to increase the population of Kenyan chimpanzees. While doing his job he falls in love with C - the most desirable and intriguing of the lab's three chimps. The story unfolds from there."

""That. Exactly That." was submitted by an A. Nonymous, and is a mercurial investigation of the artistic process," said director Jay Stull. "To give more away now would ruin the surprises in store for venturesome attendees. I will say however that directing a script like this is such a thrill! I just wish I could find the bard and shake his/her hand. "Nonymous," sadly, is not listed in the directory."

According to Ogborne, the show has always consisted of plays selected from submissions by students and students only, and the performances are less formal than standard shows. "They're always planned as works in progress," she said. The shows are funded from donations by a Masque and Gown alumnus. The audience votes to choose the best of the shows at the One Acts competition.

Tickets are $1.

Masque and Gown will put on the musical "Hair" this spring. Auditions are this Sunday from 1 to 5, and Monday and Tuesday from 4 to 6. Interested parties can sign up the Smith Union and prepare a song.

Ogborne urges aspiring playwrights to start writing now. "We always have One Acts."