Senior shows provide stage time for many

By KAYLNA JOWYK

For the few extremely talented individuals in the UMW Department of Theatre and Dance who have yet to grasp an opportunity to shine on Klein stage, senior project season is the most wonderful time of year.

Senior Bethany Farrell and junior Carly Maalouf are both theatre majors who have worked mercilessly hard over the past few years and have not seen much fruition.

Last weekend, however, the two extraordinary women took on the roles of men in Bethany’s senior project production of Matt and Ben by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers.

The play is set in the time before the famous actors Ben Affleck (Farrell) and Matt Damon (Maalouf) penned the script for Good Will Hunting. It is an exploration of friendship, compromise and how the two can lead to Oscar success.

The two actresses, in conjunction, were believable and funny. They shone to the extent that the two basic principles of live theatre were married in their performance.

The looming haunt that a drama leaves in your heart and the bubbling burst of comedy in a tightened shaking diaphragm are the products of a well performed and directed play which makes emotion tangible.

In Hollywood, actors often “make it” when they are altogether terrible at the craft and therefore cheapen the art. UMW certainly isn’t Hollywood, but success for some students is limited by the amount of opportunity for the truly talented just the same.

It is a well-known fact that sometimes a main stage production just doesn’t have the number of roles for all the right actors nor are all the right actors present at auditions to fill said roles. That’s why senior projects such as this one are so important to view.

Farrell and Maalouf have finally left their stamp on the department with two magnificent performances.