First year actors start off on the right foot

Author: The Arts Editors

The curtains opened to the class of 2010 for the first time at the Hepburn Zoo last weekend in the 11th annual First-Year Show I Gotta Change my Whole Friggen' Life. Directed by Professor of Theatre Richard Romagnoli, the evening was comprised of short ten to fifteen-minute scenes from playwright John Patrick Shanley. The show began with a lovesick couple played by Mitchell Pesesky '10 and Cassidy Boyd '10 in The Red Coat. The awkwardness between the two bashful characters segued nicely into Let Us Go Into the Starry Night, as hilarious Emily Kron '09.5 delivered a series of dialogues - the first, with a plastic dummy sitting next to her and next, with a depressed and disheveled Michael Tierney '09.5. The down and out Brooklyn friends Justin Bogart '10 as Stephen and Dustin Shwartz '10 as Vinnie were uproariously funny as they talked with Artie (Ian Drummond '09), the cool and collected owner of the bar, in Welcome to the Moon. The addition of weepy, dramatic Ronnie, (Shane Mandes '10) created a nice character contrast to trashy Shirley (Emily Feldman '10). The evening came to a close with Savage in Limbo, Shanley's most powerful piece. Natasha Chacon '10 played outspoken Savage as she tried to coerce the sobbing Linda (Martha Newman '10) into telling her why she was so upset. Drunken bartender April White (Jacquie Antonson '10) lay passed out on the bar as Murk (Ekow Edzie '10) argued heatedly with Savage until Linda's controversial boyfriend Tony Aronica (Rishabh Kayshap '08) entered into the scene, causing only more drama. The evening was a hit - from comedy to drama, each scene was a pleasure to watch. If these new Middlebury College students have "to change their whole friggen' life," then let's hope the change guarantees more stage performances in the next four years.