This year’s Freshmen Debut Show, presented by Roger Williams Theatre, was made up of four short one act plays by David Ives; Time Flies, The Philadelphia, The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage and Lives of the Saints. All of these incredibly well done and comical acts were created, rehearsed and set up in a short, and very busy, three weeks. I spoke to the director, Genevieve Ferrara, to go behind the scenes. 

Ferrara was asked by the theater program to come and direct the Freshmen Debut show. She is a first time director who was thrown a lot of challenges within the three weeks she had to put together a show. Since there was such a short window she was handling a lot on her own. There was constant change in stage set up and character roles. Ferrara said they “are in the business of trying things.”

“All the kids were so wonderful to work with and they adapted to changes very well…I couldn’t be luckier with all of the talented students,” Ferrara said. “Kids even gave suggestions to improve the show.” 

With the combination of Ferrara’s directing and the cast’s talent the show came together better than they could’ve imagined. There was constant laughter from the audience and even ended with standing ovations. 

What makes the Freshmen Debut Show different from other shows?

Unlike other shows, that are full length plays chosen by professors, the Debut Show is a series of one acts that, all together, take around 45 minutes. They are typically comedies and are easy to understand.  

Ferrara also said “It is a good way for kids to get involved in the theater department.” 

This show was Sydney Zobel’s first theater performance through Roger Williams University Theatre. She performed in two of the acts, Time Flies and The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage. She also had challenges thrown at her due to the short time the cast had to prepare for strong character personalities and lots of changes that were still coming up until the day of the show. 

“It wasn’t always an easy process but that’s what made it rewarding,” Zobel said after her opening night performance. 

Zobel was very pleased with how the show came out; the reactions from the audience was a big part of the success.

“It was high energy, we were having lots of fun out there.”

Through all of the challenges that both the director and cast members faced it was all worth it for another incredibly successful Debut Show.