Student plays brought to life in one act

By Kathryn Bergin
Collegian Editor
April 2, 2009

If you’re on a tight budget and looking for a night filled with original student-written and produced work, then look no further than La Salle’s Maverick One Acts. The one-act plays give students the opportunity to showcase their original work and have it performed in front of an audience.

Maverick One Acts accepts student submissions before winter break. After they are all received, the producer, junior communication and English major Allison Neff, and the adviser, junior finance and risk management major John DiPompeo, look over all of the submissions to decide which ones will be performed.

“Any student at La Salle can submit their show,” said DiPompeo.

DiPompeo and Neff then look through the submissions and decide which plays the group will be capable of putting together in such a short amount of time. DiPompeo described what he and Neff looked for in submissions. “When we say capable, we are looking into how big the cast is, if they are actually able to perform this on stage without a lot of props and set, and if we think the show will be enjoyable to the audience.

“It was actually really hard to pick this year’s shows,” said DiPompeo. “We typically do not get that many submissions, but this year we had many fantastic shows submitted to us. We picked the shows we are performing now because we saw them as the most doable, most entertaining, and we believe the audience will really enjoy and respect the talents of this year’s shows.”

This year two Mavericks will be performed: Speed Dating, written and directed by sophomore biology major Leah Lapszynski, and Meet the Waltons, written and directed by Neff. The cast of the two shows had about a month and a half to prepare. The cast auditioned in one night, and it was up to each individual whether or not they wanted to audition for all of the plays, or just certain ones.

Neff spoke very highly of this year’s shows, “They’re all very different,” she said. “They’re all comedies but completely different.”

DiPompeo and Neff both have very high hopes for this year’s Maverick One Acts.

“Each year we find that our audience is continuing to grow larger and larger,” said DiPompeo. “Many people from different organizations have been submitting shows, auditioning for our shows and coming to see our performances. Moreover, we are not hiring any professionals to help us. This all completely student run.”

If you’re interested in a night filled with comedy and student-written work, then come out to see the Maverick One Acts Friday, April 3 in the Dan Rodden Theatre starting at 9 p.m.

bergink1@student.lasalle.edu