This weekend, LU alum Anneliese M. DeDiemar makes her postgraduate directing debut with “Bash: 3 Plays.” Starring Matt Murphy and Siri Hellerman, the three plays, written by Neil LaBute, focus on the way evil plays into human nature and our lives.
According to Murphy, “The first play, ‘Iphigenia in Orem’, is a monologue given by a young businessman recalling the recent death of his infant daughter. The second, ‘Medea Redux’, is a monologue given by a woman about her past relationship with her junior high teacher. The final play, ‘A Gaggle of Saints’, is a duet scene involving a young Mormon couple who give their own separate accounts of a weekend church trip to New York City.”
DeDiemar, ’03, returns to Lawrence this fall after a year working at the Nomad Theatre in Boulder, Colo. She is currently working for the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, and will also be directing in the Fred Gaines New Play Festival later this year. Other production staff members include: Melissa J. Law, stage manager, Andy Strong, lighting designer, and Julie Silver, properties master. Hellerman and Murphy are indeed the only cast members, but have enjoyed the opportunity to work in such an intimate setting.
On working in such a small cast, Murphy had this to say: “The small company aspect definitely helped strengthen the relationship between actor and actor, as well as actor and director. We had the time and space to get to know each other well, both as artists and as people, thus making the rehearsal process very fruitful and yet, at the same time, relaxing as well … It’s also weird to think that you’ll be the only one (or one of two) on stage for such a length of time.”
The plays themselves are both distressing and relevant, which combine with LaBute’s lyric writing to create a very powerful effect. “Bash: 3 Plays” runs at 8 p.m. on Friday the 21 and Saturday the 22 in Cloak Theatre.
Don’t ‘Bash’ your brains into a bloody wad of goo -rws -jcr -dlh
