God-killers face mortality, superheroes make peace with civilian life, and university students struggle with the anxiety of the pre-professional rat race in the 39th Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival (DBMOAF), produced by Georgetown University’s student-run Mask and Bauble Society.
Written, directed, and performed by Georgetown students, the MOAF brings three original plays to the stage with grace, nuance, and a lot of heart. In order, Ouroboros, Six Years Later, and The Enfancia Project contrast in setting, theme, and tone — but the range displayed by the directors and actors across these three challenging scripts testifies to their talent and enthusiasm for art. The “MOAFIES” deliver.
The show begins with Ouroboros, a dystopian tale of a centuries-old god-killer who has finally met her reaper… only the reaper looks awfully familiar to her. Written by Anastasia Kelly and directed by Nate Findlay, the script takes risks with time and place, drawing the audience into a Percy-Jacksonesque mythos of grim reapers, forbidden fruit, and gods that can inhabit the bodies of endangered weasels. The story twists and turns through a series of memories and reflections, prompting the audience to question if they, too, fear death, the afterlife — or the reaper.
“The script, in presenting a world apart from our own, gave way to a show where no pre-existing rules had to be followed,” Findlay said in his director’s note. “These mythical god-like creatures, different laws of nature, and questionable morals felt like a playground for visually depicting the themes of the show.”
Alex Roberts as the reaper Cecily and Claire Cable as the god-killer Lilias both give impressive performances, but Cable steals the spotlight. Her opening monologue lasts several minutes and draws the audience into the mythical world and her own meditation on mortality. Thoughtful, ironic, a little bit jaded — her voice carries the character and makes the nonsense of the speech make sense.
If the director is aiming for visual depiction, he succeeds. Findlay seats the main actor facing the audience with her back against an upturned table for the opening monologue. This blocking gives her the freedom to use physical levels and to own the space downstage before the reaper appears behind her. Elaborate costumes and makeup for the two characters also contribute to the world-building of the show.
Former superheroes take the stage next in Six Years Later, in which two former enemies meet in their civilian identities to catch up over coffee. Written by Claire Cable and directed by Rishu Nevatia, the script presents a simple but relatable concept of two people with a history trying to reconcile themselves to who they are now.
“At its core, Six Years Later is a conversation between two people trying to find their place in the world,” Nevatia said in his director’s note. “One of them was struggling and has found peace, the other thought he found peace but is struggling.”
Marre Gaffigan plays Kit Hunter, formerly known as the superhero The Red Sparrow. Hunter is thriving in the public eye after defeating his nemesis, The Ghost, six years earlier. False confidence and a red necktie thinly veil his insecurity about who he is without The Ghost in his life. Grady McDonough plays a milquetoast Peter Bennet — formerly The Ghost — who turns out to have wisdom and a quiet confidence Hunter lacks.
Gaffigan and McDonough have some genuinely funny and relatable awkward moments. But the show starts to drag in the middle before the climax, and the energy is only saved by Massimo D’Onofrio as the goofy barista who fanboys over The Red Sparrow.
In the first two shows, both pairs of actors play their relationships with a heightened tension that left me and the girls next to me during intermission asking: Was that a queer love story? Or are they just friends?
The first two shows did not disappoint, but DBMOAF saves the best for last.
Written by Eileen Miller and directed by Tommy Gaita, The Enfancia Project hits close to home for a college audience, taking on the anxiety of pre-professional culture. The brilliant script follows college student Carla and four other university students in a consulting club that specializes in crisis management. The script starts at the end of the club’s own legal crisis as Carla meets a journalist for an interview to tell her side of the story. A tale of ambition and foolishness unfolds through a series of flashbacks and interviews as all five students give their side of what happened and reveal the insecurities driving their frantic pursuit of a career in consulting.
“The Enfancia Project is a story of pressure,” Gaita said in his director’s note. “From birth, it feels like people are guided by a series of ‘so that’s.’ ‘I need good grades so that I can go to a good college so that I can get a good job so that I can make good money so that I can raise a family so that I can retire comfortably.’”
Each actor makes striking and effective character choices, but Lainey Lyle stands out. Lyle plays Carla, a driven, ambitious, bossy girl who heads up Crimerge, the college consulting club. Everything about Lyle, from the way she carries herself to the tone in her voice as she addresses the journalist to the way she fixes her eyebrows and clutches her purse, communicates a kind of stuck-up overachiever all of us have met. I was disgusted by the character, and that was the point.
The set design contributes significantly to the success of The Enfancia Project. A doorway stands at an angle at center stage between a coffee shop set-up and a library table stacked with binders, notebooks, and energy drinks. The characters pass from interviews with the journalist in the coffee shop through the door to flashbacks in the library. More than dividing the two spaces, the door gives the actors a chance to show how that character walks through a door. Do they slink or slam or scramble? Set design, paired with careful character expression and physicality, as well as the wit and pace of the dialogue, make this show outshine the others.
The atmosphere of DBMOAF is just plain fun. Georgetown students pack the seats in the black box theater, chatting and laughing between shows. I had almost as much fun watching them react to their friends as I did watching the shows themselves. Sitting there on opening night, I could feel the palpable sense of community built only through college theater.
Oh, and “Upside Down” by Jack Johnson during the curtain call was a nice touch.
Running Time: Two hours, including two 5-minute intermissions.
The Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival plays through February 16, 2025, presented by 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: Masks are optional.
The 39th Donn B. Murphy One-Acts Festival
DIRECTING STAFF
Director, The Enfancia Project (Tommy Gaita)
Director, Ouroboros (Nate Findlay)
Director, Six Years Later (Rishu Nevatia)
Producer (Stratton Rebish)
Stage Manager (Elle Marinello)
Tech Director (Avelyn Bailey)
Assistant Director, The Enfancia Project (DB Won)
Assistant Director, Six Years Later (Alexandra Risi)
Assistant Stage Manager (Dylan Shapiro)
Assistant Stage Manager (Ariane Barth)
CAST
Ouroboros (written by Anastasia Kelly)
Lilias (Claire Cable)
Cecily (Alex Roberts)
Living Death (Reilly Souther)
Living Death (Celeste Viana)
Six Years Later (written by Claire Cable)
Kit Hunter (Marre Gaffigan)
Peter Bennett (Grady McDonough)
Waiter (Massimo D’Onofrio)
Radio Announcer (Autumn Rain Nachman
The Enfancia Project (written by Eileen Miller)
Carla (Lainey Lyle)
Leane (Briana Sparacino)
Jenny (Anivka Deva)
Francis (Aidan Green)
Rachel (Molly Meehan)
Daieele (Celeste Viana)
Employee (Massimo D’Onofrio)
Employee (Reilly Souther)
PRODUCTION STAFF
Lights Designer (Apara Chandavarkar)
Co-Lights Mentor (Cliff Stern)
Co-Lights Mentor (Lily Marino)
Set Dresser (Julien Catalon)
Sound Designer (Alexis Giaquinta)
Props Designer (Hailey Ahn)
Assistant Props Designer (Katie Merrill)
Costume Designer (Kait Delaney)
Assistant Costume Designer (Sophie Mayle)
Hair and Makeup Designer (Molly Jenkins)
Publicity Director (Charlotte Hibbert)
Graphic Designer (Massimo D’Onofrio)
