Last week, three Theatre Department majors showcased their senior projects which were short plays.

“Crossroads,”  written by senior Alex Ngo and directed by junior Ely Bowlby explored the aftermath of a car accident that leaves one friend in a coma, while the others struggle with resuming their lives. Even though the story was fictional, it seemed very real because the story was well written and the acting were convincing throughout.

“I wanted to challenge myself by writing something dramatic and the only thing that really came to mind was a story about a car accident, and over time it developed into a story about these characters,” said Ngo.

The second performance was “Punch-Drunk,” written by senior Mac Beyer and directed by junior Weston Meredith. The principal character is a young woman who must deal with a voice in her head and sinks into drug abuse. The sole actor converses with and confronts the voice, which was heard from offstage.

“It was a fun project and a very good experience,” said junior Allie Glatt, who was the stage manager for the play. “With one actor we had more time to perfect it.”

The final performance, “Wolf,” written and directed by Frances Gonzales, is about the people in a small village in 16th century England who are terrorized by mysterious killings outside their village. The special effects helped the story come to life and even scared the audience. Near the end of the play, the theater went dark and the sound of a howling wolf was chillingly real, especially when actors planted in the audience began to scream as if they were being attacked.

Soon enough, the lights came on and the terrorized characters on stage panicked as an actor wearing a wolf costume bounded onto the stage and dragged characters offstage.

“This story came from a dream I had one night and I just really wanted to do it,”  said Gonzales.  “I grew up in a family that loved to scare trick-or-treaters on Halloween rather than go trick-or-treating.”

Despite the fact that they seemed terrorized on stage, the actors were able to have their share of fun. 

“I heard about this story when Frances was writing it and really wanted to be in it,” said freshman Jolene Simonds. “I really like corny low-budget horror films.”