By Hailey Wharram
Featuring poignant ponderings on existentialism, eating disorder recovery, and growing up queer, the 38th annual Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival (DBMOAF), produced by Georgetown University’s Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society, blends stirring contemplation with gut-wrenching emotion to craft a truly indelible evening.
For DBMOAF 38, Mask and Bauble, “the nation’s oldest continuously running student theatre group,” presents a theatrical triptych of epic proportions, tackling a myriad of weighty topics with commendable poise. Showcasing three original short scripts penned by Georgetown students (in order, Note to Self, The Ultraview, and Re: Writing), DBMOAF 38 is a dazzling love letter to the power and promise of university theater.
The show begins with Note to Self. Written by 2023 Georgetown graduate Malina Brannen and directed by Amelia Shotwell, a current junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, the play is a heartfelt exploration of life in an in-patient eating disorder facility. While eating disorders are often painfully isolating, Note to Self highlights the infinite strength that can be found in community recovery.
“It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of such issues that are larger than ourselves. But Note to Self is not a story of defeat; it is a story of resilience, both individual and communal,” Brannen said in her program note.
While the entire ensemble delivered strong performances, Ruby Gilmore, Lainey Lyle, and Kait Delaney were particularly memorable. Gilmore plays Note’s unofficial protagonist, Seren, and embeds the character with delicate grit, delivering the play’s concluding monologue with a formidably naturalistic portrayal of the character’s unsteady optimism. Likewise, Delaney delivers Amy’s sunshiny disposition with considerable depth—her uncontainable joy is hard-won, making her beaming smile feel even more rejuvenating, like a precious sigh of relief. In contrast, Jilly’s anxiety bubbles more closely to the surface, a raw reflection of the racing thoughts characteristic of someone in the early stages of recovery.
After Note to Self comes The Ultraview, arguably the most memorable original script of DBMOAF 38. Creatively spearheaded by two Georgetown sophomores, writer Anastasia Kelly and director Peter Sukstorf, The Ultraview follows Dr. Jupiter Dumas (Scott Burke played Dr. Dumas when I saw the show on February 16, though the role has been double-cast with Ruth Abramovitz). Dumas is a frazzled physicist who begins unraveling as he prepares to give a university lecture on his earth-shattering cosmic discovery: the stars exchange information just like neurons in the human brain. This revelation is two-fold—just as we are minuscule components within the brain of something far larger than we can comprehend, our minds also house galaxies.
Kelly stumbled upon a parallel image of a neural network and the Andromeda galaxy when she was 15 years old and has been creatively inspired by the striking resemblance ever since.
“I’d always wanted to write about that image I saw when I was 15. I thought, okay, what if the similarities in the appearance of a neural network and a galaxy aren’t a coincidence? What if they don’t just look alike, what if they’re the same thing on vastly different scales?” Kelly said in her program note.
Devastatingly postmodern and delectably pensive, The Ultraview is, fittingly, stellar. From Kelly’s genuinely brilliant script (a brilliance that bleeds into the minor details—in French, the surname “Dumas” refers to an individual living in geographic isolation) to Burke’s frantic, fiercely passionate monologue, this performance is brainy yet beautiful all at once. Tied exquisitely together by the mesmerizing lighting design—the entire play takes a deep breath at several moments, turning the house lights off and freckling the stage with the projection of a majestic starry sky—The Ultraview is something sincerely special.
While Dr. Jupiter Dumas’ scientific expertise lies within the fields of physics and astronomy, Re: Writing is a masterclass on organic chemistry—namely the chemistry between lead actors Julia Toloczko and Marre Gaffigan. Written by 2023 Georgetown graduate Caitlin Frazier and directed by current sophomore Daisy Fynewever, Re: Writing captures the sweet yet strained romance between up-and-coming writer Jane (Gaffigan) and Dylan (Toloczko), a woman whose father published a book condemning her homosexuality a “threat” to the sanctity of their family. As Dylan struggles to reconcile her newfound love for Jane with her childhood trauma, conversations surrounding the ownership of narratives and the hardships of navigating queer youth without a loving support system are handled with refreshing honesty and tact in equal measure.
Toloczko and Gaffigan’s acting is nothing short of seamless. The perceived effortlessness of their embodiment of these complex characters makes it easy to forget you are watching a performance at all. Their easy-going energy on stage communicates a tremendous level of comfortability and trust in their own natural talent, a trust that allows them to play their respective roles with a level of fearlessness far beyond their years.
As the lights gradually brighten and the cast slowly emerges from off-stage to take their bows, it’s difficult not to be rendered speechless by the sheer talent of Mask and Bauble’s small yet mighty team. From the playwrights to the performers to the directors to the production crew, putting on a series of three original half-hour performances with such a high level of professionalism is a supremely impressive feat. In addition to my awe, I also left this performance feeling infinitely excited: for many of them, this is only just the beginning.
Running Time: Two hours, including two 10-minute intermissions.
The Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival plays through February 18, 2024, presented by Georgetown University’s Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society performing at Georgetown University in Poulton Hall, Stage III, 1421 37th Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets ($10, $5 for students) are available online.
The program for The Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival is online here.
COVID Safety: Wearing a mask is optional. GU’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center is here.
Hailey Wharram is an undergraduate student at Georgetown University. She is majoring in English and double-minoring in journalism and film and media studies in the College of Arts and Sciences. In addition to writing for DC Theater Arts, Hailey also writes about arts and culture for The Georgetowner and The Georgetown Voice. She is available for contact at [email protected].
This article is part of DC Theater Arts’ new DC Theater U. initiative, which trains university students in the art of theater criticism and fosters connections among university students across the DMV.
