This year, East’s annual Fall One Acts occurred on Nov. 13, 14 and 15. The One Acts were again headed by counselor Jeff Bialeschki. Contrary to last year’s Fall One Acts and the 2024 Summer One Acts, this year’s selected plays were not written by students but were selected from a website called “Playscripts.” Directors then narrowed down their selected one act from several options they picked from the website, though this isn’t the first time that East has used plays not written by students.
Directed by seniors Chris Florio, Olivia Burchett and Ian Maxfield, their selected one act “Rideshare Overshare” told the story of a pair who were trying to get to Moonlight Diner for their first date, but along the way had to deal with a multitude of annoying Uber drivers. Played by sophomore Adrianna Melvin and junior Calvin Reed, the pair eventually found each other in a driverless vehicle, opting to walk to their destination instead. Throughout the story, the main characters’ normal behavior was contrasted by the unusual antics of their respective Uber drivers, leading to a number of increasingly comedic scenarios. This one act oozed with humor throughout many scenes. For example, junior Evan Luxton, playing an Uber driver, stuck out his feet while he was driving, stating, “Who needs a partner, I have feet!” as he played cat’s cradle with his feet while he was trying to drive. Senior Smilla Rohwedder’s character envied a five-star rating, and when Melvin’s character accidentally gave her a two, Rohwedder was dramatically taken away by the “Uber police.” These scenes along with many others throughout the one act utilized interesting lighting effects to add to the humor.
Seniors Ish Patel and Angie Escarcida directed the One Act titled “Appropriate Audience Behavior.” Their one act depicted the irritability of a noisy audience as sophomore Giana Borri and sophomore Lottie Schatzeder were forced to move around during a production of “Hamlet” to avoid noisy neighbors. As they moved, the people sitting beside them became increasingly more difficult to deal with. The one act had real spaghetti as a prop that junior Nathan Cisco’s character ate throughout the performance. Ultimately, Schatzeder’s character was fed up with the annoying patrons and stood up in front of everyone, delivering a monologue about why the audience was unacceptable. This prompted Kai Maxfield, playing Hamlet, to come off stage and confront Schatzeder for her interruption, painting her as the villain. Borri, who had also been standing, quickly quieted down, not wanting to be confronted by the angry Hamlet. This story was full of relatable characters that anyone who has the misfortune of a difficult seatmate can relate to.
Seniors Annie Gibson and Josh Kennedy directed “Speed Date” which starred juniors Addie Osborne and Brody Tyner as the leads. It told the story of a round of speed dates in an Ohio town, one that forced together Osborne and Tyner’s characters, who had dated in the past. In the end, the pair had gone through every potential date there but decided that they were better off together rather than apart. The previous dates all went wrong in several comedic ways, a highlight being senior Dean Bellizzi’s portrayal of an old woman who preferred to spend the date sharing stories about her many cats. This one act included comedy not only in the present story but in many details in the background, with different visual jokes added through text on stage.
Culminating the performances, Bialeschki thanked the audience and, in turn, was thanked by directors and actors for his part in the production. The actors encouraged Bialeschki to stay on stage as they presented him with a gift and shared how much they appreciated working with him, showing the One Act experience was a positive one for both the cast and the audience.
