Student-Directed One Acts at Belmont High

The Belmont High School Performing Arts Company presents the student-directed One Act Plays on Thursday April 29 and Friday April 30 at 7 p.m. and Saturday May 1 at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Belmont High School Little Theatre, 221 Concord Ave.

The student-directed One Acts are an important and vital part of the theatre program as they provide numerous new and exciting opportunities for students, from the most experienced, who are directing, to the complete novice, who deliver their very first line onstage.

"The One Act Plays are a great experience for theater students because it gives them an opportunity to work on developing their skills in another area of theatre," says Belmont High School Theater Director Liz Smith.

"Some actors go backstage and work on technical aspects, technical students audition for an onstage role, and all are encouraged to 'try something new' and broaden their skills and expertise. As a result they gain more insight into the overall theatrical process and an increased sense of respect and admiration for other participants on and offstage," she said.

Smith said "for the most experienced theater students, directing takes the student from being limited to one aspect of a play to having complete responsibility for both the artistic interpretation and the technical production aspects.

"The Student Director needs to work not just on the overall concept of the play but with set design, props, costume lights and sound to combine all production aspects into a unified whole."

Due to last year's sell-out crowds, there will be an additional performance on Saturday at 5 p.m.

This year's plays are:

By Mark Harvey Levine

Directed by Jack Lowrie & Corey Whittemore

An Agatha Christie-like Inspector tries to solve the case of Robert, a man suffering from anxiety. But only his wife Marissa can truly save him.

By Jonathan Rand

Directed by Mark Albano & Caroline Knoblock

Brad comes home from school one day to find his parents waiting for him. They are deeply concerned. They have found a secret that Brad stashed away in his drawer: an algebra book. That's right—Brad has been studying behind their backs!

By Bruce Kane

Directed by Emily Guthrie & Will Slap

The Serpent Bartender at the Garden of Eden Bar & Grill serve Adam and Eve an apple margarita and it's all down hill for humanity.

By Val Smith & Michael Bigelow Dixon

Directed by Rebecca Haines & Chris Cox

The League is in trouble - no one calls for their semi-super powers anymore, they have mounting bills and to make it worse Carol the office secretary is quitting and taking the answering machine with her. What will our Heroes do? Will they succumb to self-doubt and self-pity or will their ambition to help save mankind win out?

By Mark Harvey Levine

Directed by Leslie Baker & Elias Kleinbock

Peter is a psychic who can only see two minutes into the future. Unfortunately, all this gives him is the ability to finish Whitney's sentences and drive her slowly insane.

By Jonathan Rand

Directors: collaboration by all the student directors

Dating can be hard. Especially when your date happens to be a raging kleptomaniac, or your grandmother's bridge partner, or a mime. Check Please follows a series of blind dinner dates that couldn't get any worse—until they do. Could there possibly be a light at the end of the tunnel?

Tickets for the Student-Directed One Acts are $10 for adults and $8.00 for students/seniors.

Tickets may be purchased at the door. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Tickets Hotline at 617-993-5844 (e-mail: ticketshotline@belmont.k12.ma.us.) Reserved tickets will be held until 30 minutes before the performance.

Tickets may also be purchased in advance from Champion's Sporting Goods, 53 Leonard St. in Belmont Center. For further information, visit www.belmonttheatre.org