Press Release

Presented By: Moorpark College Theatre Arts

Where: Moorpark College Performing Arts Building Studio Theatre (PA 100), 7075 Campus Drive, Moorpark, CA 93021

When: Bill A: April 27, May 2, 3, 5 at 7:30 p.m. & Bill B: April 25, 26, 28, May 4 at 7:30 p.m. & Free Matinees (Limited Seating) April 25 & May 2 at 1:30 p.m.

Performance Length: 2 hours and15 minutes, including intermission

Ticket Prices: $8 if purchased online at www.moorparkcollege.edu/PAC or $10 at the door or by calling the Box Office at (805) 378-1485.

Please note this production contains adult language/themes and is intended for mature audiences.

The wonderful thing about one act plays is that they are short; they're concise. Instead of spending a lot of time with one story, one subject, one point of view—the audience is offered a variety of stories and view points in one evening. "Original Student One Acts," presented at Moorpark College, offers two completely different programs of short original plays written, directed, designed, and acted by students.

The first play "Dueling Pianos" in Bill A is written and performed by Edward Brecht and Andrews Purwadi, who discover they both are infatuated with the same girl and "fight it out" with their songs, piano, and guitar playing. The play also features Mary Jones and Johnny Leiba. Next is a monologue danced and acted by Sabrina Sykora--"Life is A Slippery Slope." Play number two entitled, "vegasmistake," is written and directed by Corin Galbalon and Alex Tabor. Is parental love conditional? Eric is afraid to find out. Maybe Vegas is the right setting for finally telling the truth to Mom and Dad. Play number three is "Cheated" and is written by Jenna Zollman, with songs by T.J. Evens. The cast includes: Jenna Zollman, Grace Craig, Amber Goode, and Alyssa Carrillo. Just an afternoon spent in a coffee shop, and suddenly everything changes. Life is full of surprises. The final play of the evening is "Banking on the American Dream," written by Austin Jackson. This play was inspired by and based on the cartoon, "The American Dream" by Tad Lumpkin, available on YouTube. The play is directed by Andy Schultz. The cast includes: Seta Wainqolo, Grace Liner, Matt Blanchard, Jared Lenway, Grant Goldstein, Sabrina Sykora, Jesse Hull, and Austin Jackson. It's a comedy, but what the play is about is not funny. The absurdly rich get richer, while nearly 25% of American children live in poverty and college debt and foreclosures soar. What happened to the "American Dream"? A discussion with the audience will follow this play.

The opening play of "Bill B" is "An Innocent Man," written by Sam Velez, directed by Mary Jones, and featuring Jeremy Fay, Nick Hobbs, Edward Brecht, and Sam Velez. This play is based on the book, Fatal Vision, by Joe McGuinniss, which tells the real-life story of Capt. Jeffrey MacDonald, M.D., who in 1979, was convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife and two young daughters. The next play, "A Disintegrating Mind," is written and directed by Grace Liner with assistant director, Matt Blanchard. The cast includes Samantha Feld, Matthew Blanchard, Eric Austin, Grace Craig, Amber Goode, Nicole Whiter, and Mary Jones. In the play, Natalie invites us to share her complex reality in which she interacts with real people with fake online personas, and imaginary characters who are tangibly real. Two worlds of personal fantasy and dark reality intertwine to produce a shocking, life changing result.

The final play of the evening, "Intergalactic Conflict: The Rock Opera, Episode 4.5 Brothers in Arms," is produced with the permission of Lucasfilm, Ltd. The book is written by Chris Campbell, who also directs the play. The composer and musical director is Pierre-Alexander Smith. In this musical, which features all the familiar "Star Wars" characters, pure fun is more important than suspense. Imagine Chewbacka singing a duet with Han Solo and Luke Skywalker as a young rock star. The large cast includes Aaron Leonard, Chris Campbell, Karissa Castellano, and Sean Dobbe as the lead characters.