Prize-winning play script debuts on stage

After winning the Arts & Letters prize for her play “Old Head,” Margaret McClosky saw her work come to fruit on March 4 and 5, in the Max Noah Recital Hall.

English professor, David Muschell opened up the evening by presenting the $1,000 prize to McCloskey for her accomplishment in winning the award.

McCloskey lives in Brooklyn and she holds a Master’s of Fine Arts from the New School for Drama. McCloskey wrote “Old Head” in 2007 as her graduate thesis project.

Old Head is a town in Ireland invented by the playwright. McCloskey is Irish and she studied in Dublin and there was a golf court which served as an inspiration.

“There is a golf court which I loved and it’s so beautiful and I invented a town to go with this beautiful place,” McCloskey said.

“Because it was a short play, they had to kind of implicitly show a lot of things underlined.  You have to really think about it to understand it in its entirety.”

Max Mager, Freshman Philosophy Major

The play is the story about a woman named Annie, portrayed by senior theatre major Stacey Silverman, who is struggling with her relationship with her husband Stephen, protrayed by junior theatre major Matt Riley. Stephen suffers from an illness and the couple is in Ireland for a trip. Annie goes to the library and meets Ned, played by middle grades education major Mac Hulbert, who is an Irish librarian who seems to be very interested in Annie, but she is married. However, Annie lies about her being married. It is not until later that Ned finds out. This triangle creates a drama that the audience lives with every scene. The brief plot explained above is just one part of the deeper meaning of the play. Relationships, human needs and wants make up the drama which started as a script and then became a play and eventually winning the Arts & Letters prize.

McCloskey was very pleased with the way the actors gave life to the characters in her play.

“I think you both (Silverman and Hulbert) did a really great job of really portraying true emotions,” McCloskey said.

Theatre professor Iona Pendergast directed the play. This is not the first time she directs the play for the Arts & Letters winner. According to the program, this play “is one of her favorite projects because it is a collaborative effort between the Department of Theatre and the Creative Writing programs.”

Silverman had to play with different emotions throughout the scenes. She described it as “having to put all that in a big sandwich and carry it around.” It was very interesting for her “to find the different levels.”

Riley played the hardest role in the play ,according to the Coordinator of Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program Martin Lammon, who was seated with the audience.

In the discussion after the play, Hulbert confessed being very identified with his character.

“I am also very Irish character-wise,” he said.

The play lasted about 40 minutes and there was a discussion between the actors, the director and the playwright following. The audience got the opportunity to ask questions to all of them. When asked what is going to happen to Steven and Ned after the play, McCloskey answered that she doesn’t know and that she hopes the audience wonders that after walking out of the play.

“I think there is not an answer to that. As a playwright I question whether that’s a positive thing about the play or not,” McCloskey said.

Freshman philosophy major Max Mager attended the play on Friday night.

“Because it was a short play, they had to kind of implicitly show a lot of things underlined,” Mager said. “You have to really think about it to understand it in its entirety.”

Mager liked the fact that the play had an open ending and no conclusion; this made the play very interesting.