BY APOLLINE BERTY

In print | Published December 4, 2008

A winding night of fast cars, the fiery underworld and slippery psychology promises to rescue students from the doldrums of reading week as this semester’s “Nights of Scenes,” the culminating project for students enrolled in Directing I, will present selections from Sarah Ruhl’s “Eurydice,” Ara Watson’s “Final Placement” and David Rodriguez’s “I’m Not Stupid,” as well as Matt Pelfrey’s “Drive Angry.” According to Assistant Professor Elizabeth Stevens, the three students in her class—Dan Hodson ’09, Noah Lang ’10 and Christopher Compton ’09—approached this project with very different styles. “They are three really different guys and all along … they’ve exhibited very different tastes,” Stevens said.

Hodson, the playwright of the group, wove together two different texts, “Final Placement” and “I’m Not Stupid,” both dealing with social workers worrying about child-abuse cases, into what Stevens describes as a very naturalistic piece. He focuses on the relationship between the doctor and the parents of the children and how complex and stressful that relationship can be. “It’s a pretty psychological play about the field of psychology, but also about those characters in particular,” Stevens said.

Lang, a Film and Media Studies major, draws on his film background for this theater production while keeping in mind the differences between the forms. “My knowledge of mise en scène such as lighting, set design, etc., has made the transition a lot smoother, but I’m still learning to not rely on techniques of character development and physical action that work in film but are too subtle for the stage,” Lang explained. He will present a 13 or 14-minute play, “Drive Angry,” telling the story of two young men at odds with the system around them, who drive through L.A. traffic.
“I chose Pelfrey’s play because I think he develops a strong sense of distinctly separated worlds; the world within the car, where they have some degree of control, and the outside world which they hold in great contempt,” Lang said.

The piece takes place entirely in a car and Lang struggled with displaying this onstage. “My primary intention has been to create a conflicted relationship between the two protagonists who are in a lot of ways together out of circumstance or even some kind of misguided necessity. Otherwise I have tried to develop a strange push and pull for power between these characters,” he added.

The play was written in 1999, though as far as Lang is concerned, it could have been tomorrow—Lang sees the representation of disillusioned young people in Pelfrey’s play as universal and timeless. “These characters are well-spoken, interesting and grossly misguided in a lot of ways but that’s not entirely their fault. They’ve both been failed by what they expected from life and are taking tangible action. They definitely drive angry but they drive with a purpose, regardless of how off base it may seem,” Lang said.

Compton chose a longer segment, taking selections from “Eurydice,” a play that re-explores the myth of Orpheus from the point of view of his wife. Compton focuses on Act II, when Eurydice is dead until Orpheus knocks on the gates of hell, choosing essentially to represent her time in the underworld.

Compton describes the piece as very sad and lyrical as well as patient. “It’s a very patient play and needs to take its time. So there are a lot of characters on stage just living and being in this place,” Compton said. His piece lasts about 45 minutes, whereas Hodson’s, like Lang’s, is about 15 minutes long. “I think the play itself, what we’re working from is really beautiful and very poetic and touching and I hope that me and my actors have helped to enhance that and make it something that you could go to and be entertained and walk away feeling something,” Compton said.

The class is working in tandem with the Light and Design class for their joint final projects, focusing on lighting and directing their actors. “They’re really working on getting strong, interesting performances out of actors and working with light in a way that really effectively showcases their pieces,” Stevens said.

Directing I’s workshop “Nights of Scenes” hits the Frear on Wednesday, Dec. 10 and Thursday, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m.

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