New directions lead to new inspirations, which in turn assemble new visions

In a field as popular as theater and playwriting, it comes as no surprise that many concepts, even great ones, get lost in the sheer quantity of contemporaries. The amount of competition for relevancy within the field seems higher than it ever was before, and creative voices are seemingly endless. It’s this reason why providing a platform for the up-and-coming talents is so important to the possible success of potentially groundbreaking playwrights.

This is essentially one of the primary reasons that the upcoming New Visions Directors’ Festival is so important, not only for Muhlenberg, but for those who have the opportunity to have their ideas shown to a larger audience. While the playwrights may seem to be in the forefront of this occasion, the efforts of the two student directors putting these productions together deserve a

considerable amount of praise.

While I initially took the festival as primarily a signal boost for playwrights and Muhlenberg students aspiring to participate in professional-level theater, recent communication with Sarah Bedwell and Emma Steigers, the directors for the productions of Will Eno’s Oh The Humanity and Other Good Intention and Mattie Brickmans’s The Imaginary Audience, respectively, have really shed some light on the true scope of the festival. To clarify, the festival isn’t just showcasing specific individuals, whether they are current students or playwrights by trade. These productions also present to us, as an audience, a look into significant contemporary issues.

As with many works of art, the messages conveyed by these two productions do more than simply tell a story, and exist outside of the confines of the theater. In the case of these two plays, the concept of identity is examined and explored through two different, yet at their cores similar, means. According to Sarah, the content of both of the productions raise “difficult questions about the way we perform in society, and what our roles in society are.” Emma further clarified this for me, stating this concept of the imaginary audience in her directed production “describes how we perform the way we do in society because someone, somewhere is always watching.” In a present culture where the concept of identity has been emphasized and explored more than ever before, these works in themselves double as social commentary for the world we currently live in.

Of course there is no denying that this entire undertaking was one heck of a commitment for both girls. Three weeks isn’t the longest stretch of time to set an entire production up but despite the time crunch, both Sarah and Emma pulled through. Not only does the dedication on their parts really stress the admirable drive that the students of Muhlenberg possess, but also the care and appreciation for their fields of interest. I honestly find it quite amazing, all things considered.