Hamline’s Performance, Production and Community Department showcased its “Experimental Process” series with a production titled “An Evening of One-Acts.” The event featured two distinct plays: “Waiting” and “The insanity of Mary Girard”, separated by a 15-minute intermission.
Senior and “Waiting” director Alex Bailey originally pitched their one-act to the theatre department two years ago,
“The one-acts are part of something called the experimental process series, which is something in the theatre that gives students a chance to apply and pitch their idea for something new or exciting they want to try, and then every year someone gets approved to go ahead with their project,” Bailey said.
The evening began with “Waiting,” an absurdist comedy directed by Bailey. The play follows a man named Welson Nelson who wakes up in a waiting room expecting to enter Heaven. Instead, he discovers he has been stuck in a “super corporate hell”.
Bailey originally pitched the concept two years ago, though the project had been a work in progress for nearly three years. One of the most notable aspects of “Waiting” was its production team; the designers were all students, and the entire leadership team identified as queer.
Actor John Morton, who played Nelson, emphasized the unique collaborative energy that comes with a student-directed show. While Morton has worked with faculty directors in the past, he found it easier to work with a peer like Bailey.
“There’s something different about the One-Acts being largely student-designed with student technicians and a student director, and that kind of thing feels really collaborative and fun,” Morton said.
The second act, “The Insanity of Mary Girard,” was a drama based on the true story of a woman committed to an asylum in 1790. The play was directed by H Ashley, a freelance theatre artist and director who has collaborated with Hamline since 2023. While Ashley is a seasoned professional in stage combat and intimacy choreography, this production marked their first time directing for the department.
The production utilized an ensemble of five actors, known as the Furies, who functioned as a Greek chorus throughout the show. Ashley described these characters as fluid entities: they were Mary’s confidants, figments of her imagination and fellow inmates. Bo Johnson, the junior who played the lead role of Mary, noted that telling this “upsetting” and largely unknown story was a powerful experience.
“It’s a lot of people’s first times. It’s our stage manager’s first time stage managing, it’s H’s first time directing, for me, personally, it’s my first time being in a lead role. It’s their first time trying something, and I think it’s gone pretty well,” said Bo Johnson.
“It’s been a really excellent experience for me, and a way for me to grow as an artist, and I hope that it’s been a great experience for the actors as well. I’m really grateful to Hamline for our continuing relationship and that I get to keep working there, and I hope people enjoy the show,” Ashley said.
The technical elements of the night were just as experimental as the scripts. Quin Farrington, a first-year sound designer, reflected on the creative freedom provided by the college environment. Unlike high school productions where music is often pre-selected, Farrington was able to choose tracks that fit the emotional core of the scenes.
“I was able to really stretch myself creatively as a sound designer, which was a really incredible experience. So for my first time designing in college, this was a lot of fun for me,” Farrington said.
The result of this year’s “Evening of One-Acts” was a tight-knit artistic community and a production that the cast and crew were “very, very proud” to share with the Hamline community.
