by Rafael Gallegos
Daily Lobo
The Vortex Theatre has taken a chance on a local playwright.
UNM graduate student Jason Witter’s “Smith Hall” will run for most of April as part of the Vortex’s 2003 season.
Set in a dorm of a public college — think UNM’s Coronado — “Smith Hall” is the theatrical equivalent of movies like “Animal House” and “American Pie.” The story follows small-town boy Chuck, a newbie to the college scene, and his eye-opening experiences in the decadent dorm of Smith Hall.
Originally produced as part of UNM’s Words Afire New Play Festival, “Smith Hall” found an advocate in director Brandon Scott Jensen. Following “Smith Hall’s” one weekend run in November, Jensen wanted it to go on, saying “I really loved the play.”
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He loved it so much that he pushed for its inclusion in the Vortex’s regular season — one weekend was not enough for Jensen.
“It really made me sad to tear down the set,” he said.
So after pitching the idea to Witter, the ball was rolling again. Several months later, Witter’s play is set to open for a four-weekend run.
“The best experience for a beginning writer is to see that first piece being produced as part of a theater’s regular season,” Witter said. “It’s just fantastic. It’s what you strive for.”
And having the play produced outside of the University or New Works Festival system gives the play legitimacy to Witter. He stresses that having the play go up is still a learning process.
For this run of the play Witter has worked at “being the writer” and letting another person’s vision guide the play. He hopes to send the script off to other playhouses around the country after the Vortex run.
For the updated “Smith Hall,” Jensen has assembled a cast and crew that includes eight UNM students. Two actors will reprise their roles from the November production. Natalie Rose will play the fiery Alice, a local vixen who enjoys a pillow fight, and Scott Bryan will bring his stellar British accent back to the stage for Jimmy, the beer-swilling, pot-smoking upperclassman who takes Chuck under his wing.
This play is bound to make for an entertaining evening for the college crowd, who will inevitably see themselves onstage bowling, drinking and doing all the things that college kids do.
Expect to see a leprechaun, a physically gifted student aptly named “Package,” some skin and the work of one of our own. Jason Witter’s “Smith Hall” runs April 4-27. Fridays and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 6 p.m. Call 247-8600 for reservations. The Vortex is located at 2004 ´ Central SE. For more information, visit www.thevortextheatre.org.
