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| Me "directing" [credit Josh Niccolai-Belfi/ TCC-SE] |
I am an adjunct instructor at a small community college in north Texas. I originally was drawn to the job because I liked teaching at the college level. Since maybe a year or so before the pandemic, I have found myself directing a lot more at the college than teaching classes, which is not altogether my preferred course. Last week, two student-written 10-minute plays, complete with student actors and crew, which I directed, saw the light of day. The plays I directed for this year's Festival of New Plays included Blake Roper's The Friendship Application and DaShaun Ellis' I'm Thinking. They were both fun little playlets to work on. The playwrights were receptive to feedback and the student actors, mostly, put forth the effort.
The Friendship Application is set a hundred years in the future when civilization has become interplanetary. The government now matches people together as friends, provided one fills out the paperwork properly.
I'm Thinking was a fun little sketch about a student hung up on a writing assignment. His little sister and her friend step in and help by reading out loud from his wadded up attempts. They played at being pirates and cowboys and even do a stand-off, one as a mad scientist and the other as a secret agent. Eventually, an idea is sparked and the student can finish the assignment.
The Festival of New Plays ran February 22 - 24, 2023 in a small black box space at the college.
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| Student actors Madison Sanchez, Ethan Melendez and Haleigh Ferguson in I'm Thinking, written by DaShaun Ellis [credit: Josh Niccolai-Belfi/ TCC-SE] |
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| Student actors Ethan Melendez and DaShaun Ellis in The Friendship Application, written by Blake Roper [credit: Josh Niccolai-Belfi/ TCC-SE] |
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| Student actors Lina Koudy and DaShaun Ellis in The Friendship Application, written by Blake Roper [credit: Josh Niccolai-Belfi/ TCC-SE] |
