CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University Theatre will present "Ten Minutes at the Townsend," an anthology of student plays set in a small-town diner, at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 19.
The event will be streamed with the support of KBVR-TV on the KBVR YouTube channel.
The original works by OSU students are all based in the real town of Strawberry, California. The short slice-of-life conversations are set in a small diner in the fictional town of Pine Riverbend during the years of 1980-1989, and all take place in the same diner booth. The filmed project includes six 10-minute plays and a 3-minute coda:
- "1980: Alex and Charlie" by Libby Brennan
- "1981: Mary and Hazel" by Abby Oliver
- "1983: Leslie and Jordan" by Taylor Stageberg
- "1985: Tom and Linda" by Nikki Richardson
- "1987: Aaron and Jamie" by Abrianna Feinauer
- "1988: Conner and Gwen" by Hannah Schwartz
- "1989: Coda" by Libby Brennan
The project, directed by OSU theatre arts instructor Elizabeth Helman, brings together original student writing and performances, in collaboration with a winter quarter theatre arts course in sound design
Helman reached out during fall quarter to interested student playwrights to begin brainstorming ideas, which developed into this collection of loosely-related stories about the bonds of family, growing up and small town life.
"The writers were incredibly dedicated to telling these stories. We went through an intensive writing and editing process over winter break so that by the time the scripts got into the actors' hands, they had each gone through five or six drafts," Helman said. "It's always fun developing new material and watching these stories and characters come to life for the first time."
The cast includes OSU students Lorna Baxter, Libby Brennan, Keegan Dittmer, Noah Fox, Srimanyu Ganapathineedi, Natalie Harris, Leah Kahn, Hannah Schwartz and Kane Sweeney. OSU Theatre alumni AJ Glessner, Samantha Johnson and Josh Smith are also part of the cast.
Tickets to the virtual event are now available for purchase. Patrons can name their own price to support the work of OSU Theatre. Further support came from KBVR and the OSU campus branch of US Bank.
