乐播传媒

Collected Stories, a two-character play about ambition, artistic conflicts, rivalries and the rise and fall of a friendship, comes to life at 乐播传媒 in performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 7 and 8, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 9, in Black Box Theater, 305 College St.

Admission is open to the public at no cost. For more information please call 207-786-8294.

Donald Margulies’ drama uses the story of Ruth Steiner, a flash-in-the-pan writer in her declining years, and her rising prot茅g茅, Lisa Morrison, to examine issues of artistic integrity, as well as the realities of life as an artist, over a six-year span. Lisa begins as an insecure student, blossoms into a successful short-story writer and then writes a novel based on Ruth鈥檚 affair with real-world poet Delmore Schwartz.

Together, they struggle with the moral dilemma of whether the events of one person鈥檚 life are fair game for use in another person鈥檚 art.

The cast consists of 乐播传媒 junior Elizabeth Danello of Washington, D.C., as Lisa and Mary Meserve, 乐播传媒 College registrar, as Ruth. Katalin Vecsey, senior lecturer and vocal director for theater productions at 乐播传媒, is the director.

Meserve describes the play as 鈥渆ngaging and thought-provoking.鈥� Both Lisa and Ruth are 鈥減rofessional writers, so their passion and commitment must come through strongly鈥� in the actresses鈥� portrayals, she says. In playing Ruth, Meserve emphasizes the generation gap between her character and Lisa in order to fuel the tension of the play.

Danello says that the play 鈥渆xplores the boundaries of ambition within the borders of an evolving friendship. It鈥檚 an intense psychological exploration of a mentor-mentee relationship that calls for a realistic and multilayered performance.鈥�

She hopes the audience will feel compassion for the two women, noting that 鈥渙ne of the central issues in the play is which character, if either, is in the right. At the end, will the audience sympathize with Lisa or Ruth?鈥�

Danello, a double major in English and theater, has undertaken this role in fulfillment of an independent study in theater. She is a theatrical triple threat: actor, stage manager and director. She has acted in several mainstage productions at 乐播传媒, including Hotel Universe, The Learned Ladies and Bus Stop. Danello is also involved in 乐播传媒鈥� student-run theater organization, the Robinson Players.

In preparing to portray Lisa, Danello researched the play鈥檚 cultural references and time period as well as relationships between professors and students. Danello describes her character as realistic, with her anxiety and insecurity, but also manifesting a 鈥渧ivacious sparkle.鈥� Danello鈥檚 biggest challenge in her rehearsals has been representing the passage of time between the scenes as the action progresses through the years.

Meserve describes theater as a passion and says, 鈥渋t is simply part of who I am and I can鈥檛 imagine not being involved either onstage or behind the scenes.鈥� She got her start as a child in community and local productions around Portland, and worked as a young adult behind the scenes at Portland Stage Company for two years.

In the last 15 years, she has performed and directed at various theaters around southern Maine, such as Lyric Music Theater, Portland Players and Community Little Theater. Meserve also performed in the 乐播传媒 production of A Lie of the Mind in 2008.