Winter One-Acts

The student-directed and produced Winter One-Acts took place January 19 - 21. This year’s acts were most interesting for their approach to very real - or, potentially real - topics.

A Message From Earth, written by Nick Rodriguez and directed by him and Megan Rogers, for example, dealt with a dying planet that we think is the Earth. Throughout the play, Anya Reliford (Sandy Meirovitz) tries to provide for those around her while neglecting her own health. She carries the secret that her death is imminent until the very end. The “secret,” though, from that audience is that this planet on which the action takes place is actually not the Earth. It is a planet very much like the Earth, but towards the end, we see that the characters receive a message “from Earth.” A Message From Earth featured Sandy Meirovitz as Anya, Sam Meyer as Myles, Billy Gleason as James, and Caroline Johnson as the neighbor, Mrs. Anderson.

Another act that dealt with a very real topic in an “unreal” way was Robots and Metaphors by Michael Freund. Bob, a new student, seems to run into the same kid in different guises. This kid, Sigmund Freud, appears as a jock, a hipster, a biker-boy and popular polo-wearing kid (among others), and these multiple iterations throw Bob for a loop. It turns out that “Dr. Freud” is behind this. Dr. Sigmund Freud had created a bunch of robots to represent the different facets of his personality. This speaks to the challenges of trying to establish identity and “fit in” to a certain group in high school. The play was directed by Michael Freund and Chance Brost, and featured Scott Jezusko, Hannah Kulus, Abraham Rose as Dr. Freud and Fletcher Todd as the student(s) Sigmund. Adreanna Manirath, Mark Dosh, Megan Klecatsky and Emma Rogers round out the cast.

An Autumn Night, written by Emma Alley, was the story of a girl named Claire confronting the challenges and dilemmas of her life. Her relationship with Charlie, her little sister, is highlighted throughout the play, and the theme of death and how it’s dealt with is omnipresent. Laura Dill and Emma Alley directed the play, and Brianna Wilde, Natalie Kellogg, Mark Dosh and Lucas Boeser were featured.

Finally, Driving Fred Willard was written and directed by Celia Knieff and featured Darren Ryan, Ellen Kinney, Connor Willgohs, Jenny Gravelle and Liz Ciborowski. Winnie works for a senior taxi service, and has to get Mr. Willard to the pharmacy. But it’s the journey that counts here, as they make some friends and engage in interesting conversation along the way.

This year’s One-Acts were supervised by Ms. Ramisch. The show lasted just over two and a half hours, but it was well worth the time. It is always impressive to see Sibley students displaying their talents on the stage, especially when the acts are all original.

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