By Michelle Gao, Andrea Park, Linda Song & Erin Hayes
Gargoyle assistant editors & staff reporter
Posted Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006, The OG, arts

UNI'S 2006 STUDENT PRODUCTIONS will be held 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the North Attic Playhouse. Ticket prices are $3 for students/seniors/faculty and $4 for adults. This year's StudProd will feature four plays written and directed by Uni students. To get you ready for this weekend's performances, here's a preview of each.

“Jasper County”
written & directed by Nicole Helregel

Senior Nicole Helregel's play is centered on a young woman from southern Illinois named Colleen, who is a student living in Chicago. When her grandmother dies, she reluctantly returns home for the funeral.

There she has to face her estranged mother, as well as her high school flame, Danny. When Danny tries to rekindle their relationship, Colleen is forced to decide whether she wants to stay in her hometown with Danny or return to Chicago to pursue her career.

Helregel is directing her own play, much to the delight of cast members.

“Nicole is a nice director,” said senior Bethany Hutchens, who plays Colleen. “I like Student Productions because of the little cast; you really get to connect with people.”

With the setting so close to home, this play is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.

Cast
Colleen …….. Bethany Hutchens
Danny ……….. Robert Boyce
Jill ……………. Lauren Piester
Mom …………. Caroline Brown

“Le Petit Chou”
written by Sarah Pfander
directed by Zoë Schein

“Le Petit Chou” in English translates to “The Little Sweetheart,” and it's also the café where the majority of junior Sarah Pfander's play takes place. “Le Petit Chou” follows Lauren, a popular high school girl who is assigned to work on a film project with social recluse Jennifer. Their differences make it extremely difficult for the two characters to get along. Lauren's and Jennifer's personalities continue to clash throughout the play until their differences culminate in a huge argument.

“The fight is meant for the audience to peek inside the girls' personalities and psyche,” Pfander said. “It is an indicator that both girls are not as secure as they come off to be. But the conflict also gives them a different perspective about each other and themselves.”

According to Pfander, the play offers a commentary of sorts on high school life.

“I think that high school girls in different social groups aren't necessarily as different as they come off to be,” she said. “They definitely can all get along if they put those surface differences aside, and that's what I wanted to show through my play. I definitely have gone through this experience of clashing with girls of opposite groups for no apparent reason. I hope the audience can walk away with the willingness to examine themselves more closely. But in the end, I just really want people to sit back and have a good time!”

Junior Zoë Schein is the director of “Le Petit Chou.” (As a member of the girls varsity basketball team, Pfander is unable to attend most of the rehearsals.)

“It's been a lot of fun directing this show,” Schein said. “The cast has been really great, and I hope some of the fun we have at rehearsal shows up in the final product. I also hope everybody enjoys experiencing the magic of my directorial debut.”

Cast
Lauren …….. Jamie Weiser
Jennifer …… Anna Gooler
Sven ……….. Martin Geiger
Eric ………….. Buck Walsh

“I'd Like Two Avocado Sandwiches, Hold the Cranberries”
written & directed by Krista Olson

As the title implies, senior Krista Olson's play is a story about sandwiches. The quest to make the perfect sandwich, actually. Julia is the manager of a café who is obsessed with bagels and trashy magazines. She starts to get to know her coworker Nolan a little better at work, and begins to wonder if she might like him.

However, she unwittingly meets Nolan's brother Marco when she drops a magazine in the park, and likes him as well. Since Nolan and Marco don't talk to each other much, neither knows that the other has met Julia. Julia also doesn't know that Nolan has an extremely attractive girlfriend, Olivia. After Julia's slightly wacky friend Leslie adds in her advice, chaos ensues as the various truths are revealed.

“I think Student Productions are so much fun, because everyone works really hard but the atmosphere at rehearsals is still pretty laid back and relaxed,” said junior Michelle Gao, who plays Julia. “Plus, our cast has the weird talent of being able to get a lot done while completely goofing off. It's pretty cool.”

The only production this year with a hopeful ending, “I'd Like Two Avacado Sandwiches, Hold the Cranberries” is full of laughs, and it promises to leave the audience with warm fuzzy feelings inside.

Cast
Marco …… Devin Johnson
Julia ……… Michelle Gao
Nolan ……. Rohun Palekar
Leslie ……. Lor Sligar
Olivia ……. Eunice How

“Cyrano Slanted”
written & directed by Jackie Hedeman

Senior Jackie Hedeman's play is based on “Cyrano de Bergerac,” and it's also an everyone/everywhere story about high school and friendship. Agnes and Michael are friends, but when Michael asks for Agnes' help with asking Melissa out on a date, this forces Agnes to examine her own feelings and how to balance her friendship with those feelings.

Hedeman is an experienced Stud Prod hand. She's also a nationally recognized playwright. Her play “Instruments of Faith” won the Thespian Playworks Competition last spring. She spent June 19-24 attending the International Thespian Festival at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where her play was presented in a staged reading.

“Cyrano Slanted” continues the high level of work Uni theater fans have come to expect from Hedeman. Along with Olson's “Avocado Sandwich,” it will be performed twice at the Illinois High School Theatre Festival on Jan. 5. Hedeman and Olson will also conduct a workshop at Theatre Fest on writing and directing. The festival, which will be held on the U of I campus Jan. 4-6, is open only to registered participants, so Friday and Saturday will be the only chances most Uni students will have to see both of these stellar plays.

Cast
Agnes …….. Larissa Pittenger
Michael …… Robert Croisant
Melissa ……. Hannah Lake-Rayburn

BEHIND THE SCENES

Crew
Kahlilah Cooke
Adam Joseph
Josh Mitchell
Tianna Pittenger
James Smith

Lights
Natsuki Nakamura

Sound
Linda Song