New play festival opens at Malaspina March 31

The talents of Malaspina University-College Theatre and Creative Writing & Journalism (CREW) students will be showcased during the first Malaspina New Play Festival.

The Festival opens March 31 at 7:30 pm, and runs April 1, 2, 3 at 12 noon in the Malaspina Theatre (Building 310) at the Nanaimo campus. This series of directed readings will feature the work of creative writing students performed by theatre students.

The festival is the brainchild of Frank Moher, CREW Chair, who wanted to build an opportunity for his students to have their scripts tested onstage. Moher, a widely-produced playwright, who has introduced Nanaimo to new, locally-written plays through Western Edge Theatre's New Waves Festival, believes that new works benefit from a presentation which assists writers in their vision and subsequent development phases.

"There's just no substitute for seeing your play performed and hearing your words spoken," Moher said.

Malaspina Theatre instructor Eliza Gardiner agrees that writers can enhance their perspective by seeing and hearing how a director and actors deliver their text. Gardiner, who is currently writing a play about Nanaimo's history for the Vancouver Island Symphony, appreciates the need for writers to share their work and also sees this new event as a great chance for theatre students to gain valuable experience onstage.

"Participation in directed readings offers actors a healthy challenge to express the text without depending on technical aspects," she said. "It's a chance for actors to focus on their vocal, facial and gestural skills rather than depending on set, sound and lights to tell the story."

Students, faculty and general audiences will be entertained by the original scripts and performance interpretation of the plays slated for presentation.

"Somber", a screenplay by Christopher Green, will kick off the festival on Monday night, followed by lunchtime presentations of "Boy or Girl" by Michelle Ashby on Tuesday, "Novels and Guns" by Tysynn Whitney on Wednesday, and "Capitol Paradigm" by Robyn Cross on Thursday, April 3. The Malaspina New Play Festival is free of charge.