By Nicholas Blair
A minimalist set with a black bench and a few boxes greeted audience members as they entered the Studio Theater for the UC Santa Barbara Theater and Dance Program’s Fall One-Acts. Theater majors Sophia Papalia and Hannah Froman directed the one-act plays Dash Climbs a Rope and Reunion, both by renowned playwright and department friend James Still, under the mentorship of UCSB theater professor Risa Brainin. Each emphasized acting and story over elaborate production and set design.
“The directors aren’t given a ton of resources, it’s what they can pull together,” Brainin said. “The idea is to use very little but your actors and a little lighting and sound. These exercises are about performance, not anything else.”
Student directors Hannah Froman, left, and Sophia Papalia with Fall One-Acts playwright James Still in the UCSB Studio Theater.
Papalia’s piece, Dash Climbs a Rope, began with title character Dash—played by Yonatan Grossman—bearing his soul to the audience under a spotlight. In the midst of discovering his own sexuality, Dash recounts a time he climbed a rope in P.E. class and refused to come down.
With a cast of four characters, the minimal set, and only a whistle for a prop, the emphasis remained squarely on Dash’s inner conflict.
“The black bench and boxes are usually already in the theater for rehearsals,” Papalia said. “To keep the abstract feelings that Dash has as the focus, I just used the black set pieces so nothing was too distracting.”
Following a brief intermission, actresses Veda Arndt-Schreiber and Erin Donohue entered as the protagonists of Hannah Froman’s production, Reunion, which follows two ageless lovers as they reunite through the centuries. The main characters remain nameless, and with no supporting cast, Reunion stressed raw emotion, the different eras marked solely by changes in costume and the actresses’ performances.
UC Santa Barbara cast and directors of the recent show “Fall One-Acts.” Students staged two plays by playwright James Still.
The Fall One-Acts, a UCSB tradition, marked a unique opportunity for theater students to display their creative visions, especially after two years of Zoom-confined performances. While Brainin kept an eye on rehearsals and held private meetings with the directors weekly, the final product was ultimately an accomplishment of the directors themselves. Even decisions on which plays to perform and which actors to cast was left up to them.
“I see my mentorship as helping them achieve their own vision,” Brainin said.
Sophia Papalia will be co-directing She-Wolf through the LAUNCHPAD program, which will run in the Studio Theater from Feb. 22 -Mar. 5, 2023. And she and Hannah Froman will each direct one of the upcoming Spring One-Acts.
Nicholas Blair is a third-year UC Santa Barbara student, majoring in Film & Media Studies and minoring in English. He is a web and social media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.