Grade: B
If the first weekend of the inaugural Cayuga County Short Play Festival is the gauge to measure its success, Loose Ends Little Theater Company and Auburn Public Theater have an annual event on their hands.
Seats had to be added on Friday night and the Saturday crowd nearly filled the house as well. When I saw these plays on Saturday, the audience responded enthusiastically, and not without reason.
The eight short plays by seven Cayuga County playwrights are uneven, at best. But the point of a festival like this is for authors to hear a cast speak the lines, and then to rework and polish the piece. The Loose Ends cast of five, playing more than two dozen characters, provides a suitable sounding board.
Led by the excellent Andrew Rankin, the company, like the plays, is a bit uneven. This is partly due to lack of experience and partly due to the scripts. Alex MacNichol does some nice work in Lance Walter's “Remembering Mr. D” and Joe Lieby's “The Insanity of Peter” but is flat in “I Don't Understand,” Lyn Stone's less polished script.
Katie Moran has problems in that play as well, but shines in what is far and away the best play of the festival, Vienna Farlow's “Just Say Cheese.”
Sam Tamburo is good in several roles, and Bourke Kennedy (who also does fine work directing the plays) makes another of the weaker scripts, Tom Fogarty's “Peace of Mind,” more palatable.
But it is Rankin who makes the evening from an acting standpoint, appearing in seven of the plays, and taking leads in six.
Lance Walter's second script, “The Dummy” is well scripted and well acted, as are Ashley Persaile's “Just Joe” and Alexa Wejko's “For Austrailia.”
Most of the plays are best described as vignettes, they don't really have an arc for the characters to follow, and the dialogue is often stilted or forced. But these are errors that can be corrected with revisions to the scripts, and are lessons to be learned.
Both the theater groups involved are to be commended for their commitment to nurturing local talent. While none of these are professional quality plays, most show considerable promise and the plays by Farlow and Wejko are very good indeed.
Most importantly, however, is this festival constitutes a significant development in local theater.
There is nothing objectionable for children.
If you go
What: Cayuga County Short Play Festival
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Auburn Public Theater
Cost: $10 general, $8 seniors and students
For details: Call 253-4315
Seats had to be added on Friday night and the Saturday crowd nearly filled the house as well. When I saw these plays on Saturday, the audience responded enthusiastically, and not without reason.
The eight short plays by seven Cayuga County playwrights are uneven, at best. But the point of a festival like this is for authors to hear a cast speak the lines, and then to rework and polish the piece. The Loose Ends cast of five, playing more than two dozen characters, provides a suitable sounding board.
Led by the excellent Andrew Rankin, the company, like the plays, is a bit uneven. This is partly due to lack of experience and partly due to the scripts. Alex MacNichol does some nice work in Lance Walter's “Remembering Mr. D” and Joe Lieby's “The Insanity of Peter” but is flat in “I Don't Understand,” Lyn Stone's less polished script.
Katie Moran has problems in that play as well, but shines in what is far and away the best play of the festival, Vienna Farlow's “Just Say Cheese.”
Sam Tamburo is good in several roles, and Bourke Kennedy (who also does fine work directing the plays) makes another of the weaker scripts, Tom Fogarty's “Peace of Mind,” more palatable.
But it is Rankin who makes the evening from an acting standpoint, appearing in seven of the plays, and taking leads in six.
Lance Walter's second script, “The Dummy” is well scripted and well acted, as are Ashley Persaile's “Just Joe” and Alexa Wejko's “For Austrailia.”
Most of the plays are best described as vignettes, they don't really have an arc for the characters to follow, and the dialogue is often stilted or forced. But these are errors that can be corrected with revisions to the scripts, and are lessons to be learned.
Both the theater groups involved are to be commended for their commitment to nurturing local talent. While none of these are professional quality plays, most show considerable promise and the plays by Farlow and Wejko are very good indeed.
Most importantly, however, is this festival constitutes a significant development in local theater.
There is nothing objectionable for children.
If you go
What: Cayuga County Short Play Festival
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Where: Auburn Public Theater
Cost: $10 general, $8 seniors and students
For details: Call 253-4315
