Seabury Hall presents “Sideshows: A Festival of One-Act Plays”

Seabury Hall Performing Arts ends its 2023-2024 season with the 28th annual Side Shows, a wild array of short plays on Friday May 17 and Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. All tickets are $5 and available at seaburyhall.org/arts. The roughly hour-long show features six plays written by Seabury Hall students, including five seniors and one sophomore.

In “A Femininomenon in Rural Maine” by Sara Oberg, theater campers tangle with a rival camp of Girls Scouts. In “Beyond the Frontier” by Max McManus, two women find love in the Wild West. Gia Salzer’s “In Between” places a brother and sister out on the ocean. In “Jesters” by Granite Nordblom, a Medieval king tries to replace his court jester. In Emily Stafford’s “Whiskers & Whims” a lonely fellow is counseled by his three talking cats. Ren Cooper’s “Pen Pals” follows two friends from childhood to adulthood. 

Festival director Todd Van Amburgh is joined by performing arts faculty Marsha Kelly, local theater producer Vinnie Linares, and current students Aviva Meisel ‘25, Max McManus ‘24, and Emily Stafford ‘24 as play directors.

Students in Andre Morissette’s Costume Design classes meet directors, take measurements, and choose looks for all the characters. Students in Todd Van Amburgh’s Theater Tech class are doing the same for designing sets and projections.

“The one-act festival has proven to be an ideal experience for students and audiences,” said Van Amburgh. “The show is fast and fun – a rollercoaster ride for the audience. Students get lead parts, and because the plays are all about 10 minutes long, they don’t have the taxing rehearsal schedule they get for longer shows. As teachers, we get to include more students (over two dozen in the whole festival).”

“Veterans end their high-school careers with this show while others are discovered here. Students get to work with other directors, and directors get to experiment,” said Van Amburgh. “The One-Act festival is great education and great fun.”