SAXTONS RIVER — A group of local high school students will take to the stage at Main Street Arts (MSA) in a collection of four short plays Friday and Saturday, May 27 and 28, at 7:30 p.m., according to a news release.
Members of The Young Company are Simon Bupp-Chickering, Ellie Guyon, Emily Wunderle, Alden Parmelee, Alexis Larsen, Faith Byfield, Ira Richardson, Jackson Purdy and Zoe Schemm of Bellows Falls Union High School. All have cut their acting teeth on the BFUHS stage, including in the recent production of “Seussical.”
Joining them will be Compass School student Dakotah Luebbert.
Under the direction of MSA Artistic Director David Stern, they will perform in “Loyalties” by Murphy Guyer, “The Actor's Nightmare” by Christopher Durang, “The Things We Do for Love” by Stern, and “Tough Choices for a New Century” by Jane Anderson.
The plays are described by Stern as “as brief as they are awesome” and deal with such questions as: When do patriotism and nationalism go too far? Is coercion in relationships ever justified? Is life but a Kafka-esque nightmare? Is it more effective to react to disaster with reason or force?
The Young Company is a recent addition to the MSA roster and an attempt to give budding thespians another outlet for their talents and energy.
“It's a revelation to work with these young people, who are excited about exploring the topics raised in the plays, some of which deal with universal questions they and their generation are beginning to face,” Stern said in the news release. “We hope this is just the first in a series of creative collaborations for MSA and the Young Company.”