Written for The Argo by Esmeralda Rivera

From Wednesday, November 9^th, 2022 to Sunday, November 13^th, 2022, Stockton’s Theatre Program performed a comedic set of “Three One-Act Plays,” written by David Lindsay-Abaire, in the Experimental Theatre. The production—which took place at 7:30 every night, up to Sunday— attracted many Stockton students and faculty, as well as many of the actors’ friends and family members.

The play, as the title indicates, includes three plays that are one act long, each representing dysfunctional relationships in the lower, middle, and upper classes respectively. The comedies were successfully hilarious, rousing hearty chuckles from the audience. The cast included students in the Theatre Program, members of the Theatre Club, and guest actors who had already started their careers in professional theatre.

The play’s dialogue included many unexpected and hilarious plot twists and curious relationships that left the spectators wanting more. David Lindsay-Abaire’s effective and masterful writing shone through the fantastic execution of the cast, whose acting potential rose to the pride of Stockton.

The cast appeared happy to portray these quirky individuals; Emily Gioe, the actress playing the character “Joyce”, is a third-year Theatre Performance major minoring in Political Science and Global Studies. She commented, “We’ve worked really hard on this production. It’s taken a long time— this is based off a class, Creative Project Development, and a lot of people have worked very hard on this class… A lot of us are really satisfied with how it’s turned out.” She explained how the play represents different relationships in different socioeconomic classes, and “explores the different possibilities of comedy within each of them.” She claimed to have had a lot of fun participating in the play, naming it the most fun play she ever did at Stockton.

Anthony Scarpone, a Theatre Performance senior, played the part of “Jack,” and was also head of Public Relations for the first time. He expressed that he was “really happy about this show, just because of how everything came together as a whole, all the characters were really hilarious, and everybody really had a great time. It was a wonderful cast, everyone was super supportive, and it was really a very nice experience.”

The next production to be held in the Performing Arts Center will be the National Players’ production of “Fences” on Saturday, November 19^th. The next production from the Stockton Performing Arts program will be the Fall Choreography Project, which will run from December 1^st to December 3^rd.