Kristen Sarasin, a member of the Performative Writing class, has a monologue and one-act in the Festival of New Works.
By Nicole Pilote Contributing Writer
Students in the Performative Writing for the Stage class have written and created plays that will be performed at the Festival of New Works near the end of April. The festival will feature ten minute monologues and one-act plays.
All of the plays are written and performed by UMF students. Each student has spent many hours writing and editing scripts of their plays, and they will direct their works on stage.
Kristen Sarasin, a Junior double majoring in English and Creative Writing and minoring in Women’s Studies, has a one-act play and a monologue that will both be performed during the festival.
“The Festival of New Works has allowed us to dig deeper into our scripts and constantly revise the piece as a whole,” Sarasin said. “The process is difficult but rewarding; it results in more polished work.”
Students Astra Pierson and Ian Grima, who auditioned in early March for the roles, will be performing the lead roles in Sarasin’s one act. Her play depicts the last moments of a marriage between a couple in the time of their divorce.
“I picked Astra and Ian as characters for this play because they both brought individual differences towards the role of each character,” Sarasin said. “Astra had strength and Ian had the softness that was easily relatable to the characters.”
The course, Performative Writing for the Stage, is a general education class that combines elements of playwriting and staging a show. It allows students to have a closer look into playwriting through writing scripts and developing characters, as well as learning the technical aspects of theatre such as lighting and sound. Jayne Decker, UMF’s theater professor, teaches the class. Students in the class met with Decker individually during workshops to perfect their work.
“I enjoyed writing the script for my one act because it allows room the explore the relationship between two people, to be able to show the honesty in people’s lives,” Sarasin said.
The Festival of New Works will be held on Thursday the 19th and Friday the 20th.