The annual Festival of One Act Plays has successfully ushered in the end of another successful, academic Milligan year. The Festival of One Act Plays encourages students to participate as directors or actors in plays that only last for one act.
The plays lasted over the course of two days, with two plays making their debut each night from April 23-25, with six performances in total. The plays were open and free to the public and were held in Milligan’s own Gregory Center.
According to a Milligan-wide email sent out a week before the performances, the One Acts have been a Milligan event for over 30 years. Milligan students and people of all ages in the community can come and enjoy the plays.
Bethany Sodergren, a sophomore graphic design major and stage manager of the play “Post-Its: Notes on Marriage,” said of One Acts, “I thought it was incredible to watch the plays come together under the different directors. Each of them worked tirelessly to choose or write a play, pick their actors and set the stage to make the plays come to life. Everyone is so encouraging to each other that it makes it a wonderful environment that I always want to be a part of.”
The plays and directors this year included — “Queens of France” directed by freshman Mandy Lorch, “Sure Thing” directed by sophomore Meaghan Rodgers, “Acceptance” directed by sophomore Gabrielle Lim, “Post-Its: Notes on a Marriage” directed by sophomore Andrea Coggins, “Two Truths and a Lie” directed by senior Averie Vines, and finally “Unprepared” directed by sophomore Taylor Williams. The One Acts ranged from comedy to drama.
When asked about how the plays were received, Sodergren, who was backstage, said, “From what I could hear, there was a lot of laughter, so I’m guessing quite a lot of people turned out. It’s always nice when a lot of people turn out because we put a lot of work into the plays, and that’s all for the people to enjoy them.”
The Festival of One Act Plays will be back next school year, but in the meantime, you can visit https://www.milligan.edu/arts/ for this academic year’s final art events.