Harrison High School's Theatre Arts Students Present the 4th Annual One Act Festival

Harrison High School’s Theatre Arts, Acting and IB Theater students will present staged readings and fully staged productions of original student plays at the 4th Annual Spring One-Act Festival on Friday, May 31st at 7pm in the HPAC. Nine original short plays written by Harrison High School Theatre Arts students will be showcased. The line-up of plays includes comedies and dramas. The plays range in topic from a murder mystery comedy to a drama set in the mind a boy in a coma. The first section of the program will include staged reading of original plays by Introduction to Theatre Arts students. The concept of the "staged reading" is popular with many professional theatre companies, but one that is less common at the high school level. The staged reading allows for playwrights to hear their work presented by actors and hear audience feedback in order to revise their work prior to production. Plays selected for staged readings include: Screams in Seattle by Julia DiLorenzo; Depression by Lauren Ryan; A Written Mistake by Sam Schmaier; Which Note to Hit by Alexandria Ostroumoff; and Making It Big by Isabella Caltabiano. The second portion of the program will include plays fully staged by the Acting students. These plays include: The Choice of Life by Shyla Solangi; You Think You Know Someone by Troy Tripicchio; and On the Other End of the Door by Amanda Almeida. Solangi and Tripicchio's plays were presented as staged readings at last year's one-act festival. This year's IB Theater Class has collaboratively written a play entitled High School: Beneath the Surface. The play is based on interviews that the students conducted about the high school experience, and deals with everything from bullying to cliques to prom. The entire class will be acting in the play. Members of the IB Theatre class include: Marlina Gomez, Michael Menache, Christopher Morris, Andrew O'Rourke, Nicole Ferrara, Sophie Major, Laura McKinsey, Joseph Menniti, Destiny Poccia, Bernadette Recchia, Sarah Curtis, Tori Lovallo and Halle Mastroberardino. Ms. Nina Mansfield, the Theater Arts, Acting and IB Theater teacher, is a published and produced playwright. Her plays have been produced throughout the United States, and in England, Australia, Canada and Ireland. She is published by Smith and Kraus, Original Works Publishing, One Act Play Depot and YouthPLAYS. Admission is free and open to the public.