In theatrical circles, Monday nights are normally “dark,” but that won’t be the case this Monday, when the Pegasus Players turn over their O’Rourke Theatre space at Truman College to a group of high school playwrights, actors and directors.
A student ensemble from St. Ignatius College Prep will present “Tour de Force,” a series of one-act plays, at 8 p.m. at the theater, 1145 W. Wilson. (The donation is $2, the parking free.)
“Pegasus is kindly doing it as part of their educational outreach,” says Rich Westley, who teaches creative writing at St. Ignatius.
The subject matter for the quartet of plays is both dark and light. “Audible Silence,” by John Wyman, is a drama that, according to Westley, “portrays a kind of idiot savant whose genius lies in the art of drawing and who has an alcoholic and manipulative mother who wants to use her daughter’s talents for her own gain…. No, it’s not exactly a musical romp. It’s not `La Cage aux Folles.”‘
Written by Andreas Kokkino, “Searing Family Snapshots” deals with domestic violence and focuses on four women who extract revenge on an abusive husband.
On the lighter side, “Thicker Than Water,” by Jessica Volk, is a comedy about a freshman girl who misses her opportunity to ask a boy to the Vice Versa Dance; Katie Murphy’s “Defenseless” is a humorous look at an “office nerd” (Westley’s words) who gets stranded in a bad part of town.
The plays, all written by seniors in the creative writing class, were selected by students in Mary Pat Haley’s acting class, who will be performing them.
“This is the first time the writing and acting classes have collaborated,” says Westley. “It’s a natural. We should have done it years ago.”