2008 Woodie Awards
"Bar Tabs" Worth the Price of Admission
Tammy Funicello
Issue date: 10/12/05 Section: Valley Life
Valley College's "Brief Encounters" was an impressive display by first-time writers premiering their work and student actors bringing to life what they created. While for the most part, all the plays were entertaining, "Bar Tabs" stole the show.
The theatre department put on four one-act plays written by last spring's Theatre 130 students, last weekend to a nearly sold-out crowd in the Horseshoe Theatre.
Ron Rizzo's "The Woods" is about two hit men (Roger Rodd and J Alexander), who are trying to bury a body when it disappears.
The actors' chemistry was entertaining although the play went on a little too long and had an abrupt and confusing ending.
"Don't Hang Up," by Terence West, is about a Vietnam veteran (Shane Thomann), who finds the girl who hung up on him when he called her to ask her help while he was at war.
The plot was suspenseful and the show quick-paced, but the actors needed some work to be more believable.
Although each of the plays had their strengths, the weakest seemed to be "Edo" by Tom Jasper. The play, narrated by Alex Bowerman, was about a day in the life of a Japanese fisherman. A narrator read the story with the cast acting out what she was saying. That is a difficult technique to pull off, and although the actors did the best they could, it was a little slow and hard to follow.
"Bar Tabs," by Joseph O'Connell, had the most interesting and humorous dialogue of the night, most of which can't be printed.
The play takes place in a drinking establishment where bartender Jack O'Brien, played by Addison Randall, tells the ribald and funny stories of three regular customers.
This witty and raunchy play was definitely the best of the night, making the audience laugh hysterically. Randall's quick delivery earned him the loudest applause of the night.
For the most part, this hour-and-a-half show had good scripts and actors who got into their roles, but none of them could compare to "Bar Tabs."
The theatre department put on four one-act plays written by last spring's Theatre 130 students, last weekend to a nearly sold-out crowd in the Horseshoe Theatre.
Ron Rizzo's "The Woods" is about two hit men (Roger Rodd and J Alexander), who are trying to bury a body when it disappears.
The actors' chemistry was entertaining although the play went on a little too long and had an abrupt and confusing ending.
"Don't Hang Up," by Terence West, is about a Vietnam veteran (Shane Thomann), who finds the girl who hung up on him when he called her to ask her help while he was at war.
The plot was suspenseful and the show quick-paced, but the actors needed some work to be more believable.
Although each of the plays had their strengths, the weakest seemed to be "Edo" by Tom Jasper. The play, narrated by Alex Bowerman, was about a day in the life of a Japanese fisherman. A narrator read the story with the cast acting out what she was saying. That is a difficult technique to pull off, and although the actors did the best they could, it was a little slow and hard to follow.
"Bar Tabs," by Joseph O'Connell, had the most interesting and humorous dialogue of the night, most of which can't be printed.
The play takes place in a drinking establishment where bartender Jack O'Brien, played by Addison Randall, tells the ribald and funny stories of three regular customers.
This witty and raunchy play was definitely the best of the night, making the audience laugh hysterically. Randall's quick delivery earned him the loudest applause of the night.
For the most part, this hour-and-a-half show had good scripts and actors who got into their roles, but none of them could compare to "Bar Tabs."
