Centre senior and playwright Caili 哈里斯 brings her vision to the professional stage
An original play by Centre student Caili 哈里斯 took center stage at the Southeast Theatre Conference Fringe Festival in Lexington, Kentucky after being chosen from a national pool of entries submitted by both college/university and professional theatre companies.
哈里斯, 2023届毕业生, wrote the script for “Spilled Pop and the Dimensions of a Happy Place,” which was produced by Centre’s own student theatre company, bwin体育的球员.
“This is a student presenting work in a professional venue at one of the largest conferences in our field,詹妮弗·高夫说, 戏剧副教授, who noted the students’ achievement and the educational value of this prestigious production opportunity.
“This was an exciting piece of student-driven artistic practice, executing skills gained through classwork on campus as well as study abroad,”她说。.
The Fringe Festival welcomes a variety of performances ranging from one-person shows to more experimental theatre. All performances at the 2023 festival were held at the Lexington Children’s Theatre and were open to the public.
“A juried committee looked over our application, and we had the honor of being chosen,哈里斯说. “We were only able to do the second act of the play due to the one-hour time restriction, however that provided an opportunity to go in-depth with this part of the script. We really got to dig into the characters, storytelling and the world of the piece.”
哈里斯 adds that the inspiration for this play first began in Goff’s women in comedy course.
“我有一个想写的场景的想法, and it ended up being my final project — and the first scene of my play,”她说。.
Then, during 哈里斯’ sophomore year, Centre moved to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“我想了很多, 当我们不能出去的时候, 很多旅行都发生在我们自己的脑海里,哈里斯说. “I thought of happy places, dissociation, dreams and daydreaming. At some point the question came up, ‘What if these were physical spaces? 如果我们可以走进我们的梦想?这成为Vigdis (V)的主要目标。, 主角之一, and a big theme/question that this play interacted with.”
“溢出的汽水和快乐场所的维度” is the story of Eloise, or El, and her wife, V. El works at a nursing home and is the ultimate “mom friend.” V is a philosophy professor who is trying to create an escape space out of our own dreams and happy places. However, when V unlocks this escape space, she gets sucked in and trapped in her own memories. 卡罗尔和莉莉丝, V所在大学的学生, witness this event and commit themselves to helping El bring her wife back.
“This is a story about love and loss, and ultimately when it's time to let go,哈里斯说.
哈里斯, 法语和戏剧双学位, participated in Centre’s study abroad program at Rose Bruford College, 伦敦最著名的戏剧学校之一, with cast member Hannah Nye and lighting designer Fletcher Meriwether, 都是2023届的学生. They are part of the larger team that worked with 哈里斯 to produce this project.
“I’m so thankful for bwin体育的球员 and Theatre at Centre for backing me on this project and providing us with the resources to make this possible,”她说。. “I’d also like to thank all of our recommenders for their kind words that led us to the Fringe Festival.
“This play was entirely designed, directed, and performed by students,” she continues. “I could not have done any of this without my co-director Katie Bonney [2023届毕业生]. Katie is such a wonderful director with a truly creative mind.”
哈里斯 plans to take a gap year before applying to doctorate programs in theatre studies.
“我想用今年的时间来读书, watch and take part in a lot of awesome theatre work,哈里斯说. “My goal is to really focus on growing in my knowledge as a theatre artist in order to prepare myself for graduate school and the theatre industry in general.”
“溢出的汽水和快乐场所的维度”
投
El …………………... 橄榄周，2025届毕业生
V ……….................. Maia Sudbrock, 2024届毕业生
莉莉 ..................... 汉娜奈,2023级
卡罗 .................. Skylar汉斯莱,2026级
麦克/爸爸............亚瑟·雷，2023届毕业生
机组人员
服装设计师............... 伊丽莎白·鲍灵，2023届毕业生
灯光设计师................ 弗莱彻·梅里韦瑟，2023届毕业生
房地产设计师...............劳伦·多姆，2024届毕业生
声音设计师 .................. 苔丝Shalash, 2025级
Directors ……………………… 凯蒂·邦尼，2023届毕业生 and 凯丽·哈里斯，2023届毕业生
