And though some of the plays performed are daring and lofty choices for student theater groups, Company Carolina exhibits more than sufficient acting talent to support the high-level comedic structures.
The festival, which began Thursday and will conclude tonight, consists of four one-act plays.
Beginning the event is Christopher Durang's "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You," a social commentary about Catholicism. Katie Cunningham's portrayal of the title character, a hilariously preachy nun, brilliantly eases the audience into a controversial issue. The plot thickens when some of Sister Mary's former students -- who are no longer devout Catholics -- pay her a visit.
The play lacks a smooth transition from the laugh-out-loud opening scene to the shocking and violent conclusion, but the performances were all standouts.
"Stuck at B," written by senior classics major Jonathan Karpinos, might drive audience members to philosophical reasoning but could just as easily lose them. It places two college students in a bizarre situation -- a large, immobile rock appears out of thin air and bars any exit from their dorm room.
This prompts Carl, the more imaginative of the two students, to challenge his roommate Kenneth's more grounded train of thought.
While Christopher Salazar's thorough enunciation and stage presence make for a convincing portrayal of Kenneth, Brian Smith's performance as Carl could be more commanding. The brevity of the script, however, prevents the dialogue from meandering too far from the point -- that, in the words of Karpinos, "We're supposed to be here."
Switching from thoughts to words, David Ives' "Arabian Nights" uses repartee to tell the funny, five-minute story of a shopkeeper and a foreign tourist who fall for each other. Their romance isn't intentional, though -- it's created by a witty interpreter who makes a comedic situation out of everyday phrases. While the dialogue moves quickly and could easily be made unclear, the actors cleanly uncover the humor.
Eugene Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano" -- the final piece -- switches gears to absurdist comedy. Directors all too often attempt this genre and fail because it can easily alienate the audience instead of reaching its goal -- to portray the meaninglessness of life in a humorous and appealing way.
