Spring Inspirations

Spring Inspirations, an evening of eight student written one act plays, under the direction of Patrick Torelle and produced by Student Productions Association will open a three week run on May 2nd in Lane Community College's Blue Door Theater.

"The quality of the writing and acting is excellent. You'll laugh, cry, and sometimes you'll be shocked. I promise a memorable show," says Torelle.

The plays were generated last fall in Torelle's Writing For Theatre class, and continued to be developed and refined throughout the school year. "We started with sixteen writers and narrowed it down to ten plays by winter. We continued rewrites until we had a very powerful group of eight." More than fifty students are involved in every aspect of the show.

While the writing covers a wide range of adult themes -- sex, drugs, murder, war, molestation, mental illness, and reality television -- most of the plays center around family life.

"We say, 'Write what you know,' and our families give us great dramatic material," Torelle observes. "In that way, all the writing is autobiographical. All the stories are true."

This year the stories are staged on a revolve that allows the plays to flow smoothly without pausing for set changes. A projection screen is incorporated into several of the pieces and is used to introduce each of the plays.

This will be the sixth year Student Productions Association has presented the Spring Inspirations Evening of New Plays and the event will be the fifth major production for the organization this season.