The California Lutheran Theatre Department Novum Production presented the Undisclosed Baggage Capstone 10-minute play festival in the Black Box Studio from March 10-13.

The capstone project has been around for years but for the past four years in the spring, students who major or minor in theatre have annually chosen or created a play and directed a 10-minute play in the festival. Other Cal Lutheran students, including students of all majors, acted in each skit.

The theme of the plays this year was Undisclosed Baggage and according to Ryder Christ, stage manager for the 10-minute plays, each director chose a play because it is something that speaks to them or made an impact on them after they read it.

In this year’s plays the class decided that they wanted to add a comedic spin to the performances, as well as touching upon serious issues.

“I think that there was a good mix between the severity of some of the issues in the plays and comedy. Some of the plays brought up topics and struggles that I can personally relate to and that made the plays go by so quick because of how engaging they were,” Matthew Standsberry, a viewer in the audience, said.

One thing that makes each festival unique is the capstone class that puts on the production. There is always a unique feature to the festivals and that is because of the class themselves and their ideas.

“No production is like the previous. It all depends on the members of the capstone class and what energy they can bring to the production,” Jamell Dorton, a director of one of the plays, said.

Many of the plays have an impactful message and deal with real world issues that some who  attend can relate to. Christ said each show impacts someone differently.

For the students who are directing or managing the plays for their capstone, it is a very sentimental experience.

“I started my freshman year here in my first production and now I’m in my last class in theatre, so this is very sentimental to me because I’m in class with some of the people that I started CLU with so it’s nice I know that if this is the last thing that I do in theatre, it challenged me and touched me and made me better,” Paige Pensivy, a director of one of the plays, said.

The plays are much more than a final project to the directors, actors and crew members. It is a chance to have an impact on the audience and make the performance different from any other.

“One thing that makes people come back to see the 10-minute plays is that it is acting on steroids and with each play there is a message that is being hit and with Jamell’s play it is that every gay man is not the stereotypical gay man and each play hits someone in the audience and that is why people come back,” Christ said.

“My senior year would not be complete without this production,” Dorton said.

Alec Sprague
Staff Writer
Published March 16th, 2016