The Mesa College Theatre Company put on the Festival of New Plays, on Friday, Oct. 7, through Sunday, Oct. 9, at the Apolliad Theatre, which had its audience on the edge of their seats. The MCTC is a program where majors taking classes in acting, scenic, lighting, costume, sound design, and theatre management are given opportunities to perform on stage and are prepared for a career in the industry. The MCTC has produced Broadway performers, Off-Broadway performers, and students with degrees at UCSD, UCLA, UC Irvine, San Diego State University, Berkeley, and Yale.
Sheldon Deckelbaum, one of the Festival of New Plays directors, opened the festival with a wonderful speech introducing the upcoming events of the night, and six well-written short stories were followed by it. Although there were some slight technical difficulties throughout the show, the actors and actresses persevered and put on a great performance.
A crowd favorite, “A Very Normal Date written by Mark Axel Pujol Farrera,” directed by Jesse Keller, and acted by Dominick Gracie-Barber and Heidi Hope, was a hilarious short story about a very awkward first date where a man who is tripping on acid goes on his first date ever. Both Grace-Barber and Hope embodied their characters perfectly and maintained great flow throughout the scene, causing the jokes to run smoothly, and receiving positive feedback from the audience.
“Right the First Time,” acted by Miles Goering, Hunter Mackay, and Isaac Naftalin, written by Matt Gurain, and directed by John Polak, had a more serious approach to the Festival of Plays, as they took their opportunity in front of a crowd to spread a powerful message about doing the right thing. The short story was about a man, Clemet, played by Hunter Mackay, who stole from his coworker, Benny, played by Miles Goering. Benny ended up being an ex-convict and told Clemet not to steal, lie, etc., hoping that he would take his advice to veer from the life he had led. The story ends with Benny being sent back to jail for not changing his ways, and Clemet finally acknowledging the importance of doing the right thing. This story truly left the audience thinking about the power and importance of doing the right thing, and the path that minor bad decisions can take you down.
The scenery crew, including Sam Valle-Kilgerman, Tanner Hudspeth, and Isaac Naftalin, and the Props Crew including Ava Moslehi, and Maribel Ortiz Zamor, also did a satisfactory job with their designs and ideas, creating multiple realistic settings.
Without the hard work of the talented cast, crew, and production team, the Festival of Plays would not have been possible. These people put on a memorable show worth seeing again.
