From a man at Student Health and Wellness (SHAW) therapy dating 12 ants to a cyclops stopping a bomb attempt at a roller rink, the stories devised by participants in the Two-Hour Play Contest caused hilarity among the students in the audience. The event, hosted by the Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC), brought students together in the dimly lit and crowded Wall Theater on March 29 to enjoy the creativity of the competition.
Groups of two to six players were given a character, a place and a line to use in their play –– for example, “What is this, a two-hour play contest?” SEPC members collected prompts during tabling outside of the dining hall. Participants then drew prompts and had two hours to write, direct and star in a short play incorporating all of the prompts. At 3:30 p.m., groups returned to the Wall Theater to perform their plays for a judging panel consisting of TDPS professors. Jen Shook, assistant professor of TDPS, announced the winners, as well as bestowing superlatives such as “best Grinnell course name puns” and “best STEM parody cabaret song lyrics.”
Libby Albright `27, TDPS SEPC member and organizer of the contest, said the inspiration came from Obstructions, a Vancouver event where theater groups give each other prompts and have one week to create a show. “We are highly aware of how hard it is to budget your time as a college student, so we wanted to present an abbreviated version of the Obstructions project where students could experience the joy and magic of theater in just one day,” she said.
Maya Comer, Bella Takata and Hayden Devorsetz, all `28, formed Team Edward and took home first place with the prompts “a cyclops with bad depth perception,” “a rollerink” and the line “just what the doctor ordered.” They spent the first hour of the contest sitting outside, discussing how they wanted to connect the three seemingly unrelated prompts. They decided to center their play around the “80s action movie trope,” as Comer and Takata described. “Our whole joke was that it was so the 80s,” said Takata. “We were making fun of the 80s,” Comer added.
Sophia Levitas-Goren `28, who competed with Sophia Dorward `28, said she initially had her reservations about the contest. “At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it because it sounded a little stressful, but then one of the people on the SEPC was like ‘You should do it!’ and so I signed up.”
For Levitas-Goren, who was in the mainstage “Pity” last semester, the two-hour play was unlike her previous theater experience at Grinnell. “It felt a little more low-key, but also more intense because you only have two hours,” she said. “You have no props, no budget, no crew … it is very actor and creativity driven.” Gabe Martinez `28, another participant with theater experience at Grinnell echoed this sentiment. “It was a lot more laid back,” he said. “And as far as I saw, it was completely student-led.”
Participants enjoyed all different aspects of the event. Martinez’s favorite part was writing the script. “It was really fun to just, like, make something with your friends and be silly with the prompts and whatever.” For Levitas-Goren, she appreciated watching the other teams perform. “It was so much fun watching everyone else, I was laughing my butt off,” said Levitas-Goren. “I was laughing so much. It was incredible.”
