There's something for everyone in the Genesee Community College Forum Players' evening of "One Acts: Fast, Funny & Fabulous," which opens tonight at the Stuart Steiner Theatre.
"I wanted to give the students the widest variety of experiences I could," says GCC Fine Arts Director Maryanne Arena. "We have everything from a satire on Hamlet to a very farcical comedy to something very touching, and I like them all for different reasons. 'Naomi in the Living Room' is very slapstick, physical comedy. 'Blind Date' is the best written and the most poignant. 'Second Beam' is about actresses auditioning for a role, and I certainly haven't forgotten what that was like."
The aforementioned "Naomi in the Living Room" stars Peggy Marone as an insane, "child-like" woman who is visited by her son and his wife. Marone says the show was a step outside her usual comfort zone.
"At work sometimes I multitask and feel psychotic," Marone laughs. "But I don't know if I've ever been this psychotic."
Tyler Eldred also faced challenges with character development, but for a different reason: Tyler is featured in three of the one acts -- "The Philadelphia", "15-Minute Hamlet", and "Foreplay or the Art of the Fugue" -- and plays four different characters within those shows. Although the third-year theater and theater tech student has been involved with shows offstage more often than on, he says he enjoys acting more than technical work.
"It's probably because I'm a sadist, and being onstage involves so much more work," he jokes. "It's also an opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone."
Emily Jones, a sophomore theater arts major, also has her acting hands full. She is in four of the one acts, and performs with a singing and dancing quartet in between each show.
"It's so hard," she says of getting into character for each performance. "With a regular show you have the whole show to work up to it, but with this you only have a few minutes for each show. It's probably the hardest thing I've done in 10 years."
Fellow sophomore theater major Patrick Dodge is just as busy as Jones, with involvement in five of the shows. His amount of stage time, he says, is approximately the equivalent of having a role in a full-length production.
His favorite show out of the five is "Blind Date" -- a Horton Foote comedy about a seemingly sullen teenage girl who is set up on a blind date by her aunt, a former beauty queen.
"I get to play kind of a nerdy guy," he explains. "And secretly I'm very clumsy and nerdy."
Playing opposite Dodge in the role of the sullen teenage girl is Sarah Lawson, a sophomore education major. Lawson also enjoys portraying her "Blind Date" character, but for different reasons.
"It's been really interesting finding out who (my character) is," she says. "At first she seems like an unpleasant person, but she's really just lonely and not very skilled socially. And she loves Rudy Vallee."
Three of the shows--"The Philadelphia", "15-Minute Hamlet", and "The Second Beam" -- are directed by Norm Gayford, an English professor at the college who has been extremely involved with the Forum Players for the past five years.
"It's very challenging because you have to keep changing moods, and it's hard getting everybody focused," he says about the evening's fast pace. "It's like reading multiple short stories rather than reading a novel."
The showtimes are as follows:
Oct. 13 at 7:30 p.m.; Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 15 at 7:30 p.m.; and Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for high school students, GCC faculty and staff, and senior citizens (55+), and $3 for GCC students with a valid ID. Tickets can be purchased at the box office or advance by calling 345-6814. The Stuart Steiner Theatre is located at 1 College Road in Batavia.
