Ashley Estabrook and Jesus Martinez dance as flies in one of the plays
Photo courtesy of Kelsey Purcell / The Bona Venture
BY KELSEY PURCELL, FEATURES EDITOR
Madi Wood, a second semester junior media studies major and theater minor, has taken part IN SBU Theater productions from behind the scenes since her freshman year. On Wednesday, Wood took the stage for her college acting debut.
See Wood perform in SBU Theater’s production, “Shortchanged: One-Act Festival 8.” They began showings on Wednesday and performances will continue through Saturday. Each show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Garret Theater.
A one-act festival is a combination of multiple short plays within a performance. “Shortchanged” consists of seven different short comedy scenes.
There will be a play about speed dating, cat shaming, unlikely friendship, questionable science, finding God, bug romance and the comedy of existence.
“The different plays have unrelated storylines that do not come together into a bigger overall plotline,” said Wood.
The series of short skits were written by numerous writers.
The rest of the cast members are Bianca Billoni, Jesus Martinez, Autumn Reed, Meghan Baehl, Ashley Estabrook, Josh Brill, Jack Birtch, Joscelyn Jackson and Cameron Carr. The cast members take on many different roles in the seven short plays.
Wood plays one role in the performance. She is also the props master so she still has other behind the scenes duties.
“It’s been nice to form relationships with the people involved in the production and to work with them in a different way than I usually get to,” said Wood.
The cast has been rehearsing for about nine weeks in preparation for the show. Wood said the most challenging part about rehearsals has been learning how to get back into acting.
The audience gets to be up close with the cast members during the show, because of the three quarter-staging setup.
The play is under the direction of SBU Theater director Ed Simone, Ph.D. SBU Theater’s technical director, Janell Clingenpeel, MFA, designed the production. She designed costumes for the different roles within the performance.
Tickets are on sale through the ticket office of the Quick Arts Center. There are limited seats available for each performance. Those interested in attending may want to consider making reservations in advance. Tickets are $8 for the general public and $6 for senior citizens, Bonaventure students and employees.
If shows are not sold out on the night of the performance, students can get into the performance for free. To reserve a free rush ticket, students need a valid student ID. They should bring their ID to the ticket office in the Quick Center and claim their tickets at 6:30 p.m. on the night of the performance they are attending.
Anyone interested in seeing the show, getting some laughs or supporting Bonaventure’s theater program should attend.
“People should come see the show because it is fun and cute. We put a lot of work into it,” Wood said.
purcelkr20@bonaventure.edu
