February 2 , 2006
FeaturesStagedoor Players raise money for performance scholarships
Some Things Look Better Leaving was not the case at the Mesa Community College Red Mountain campus, as the stage door theater production team filled the small venue two nights in a row in an attempt to raise money for theater scholarships.
Tickets for the production were $10 a piece and all proceeds went to the scholarships.
The event rose over $700 for the stage door players’ scholarship which is one of four different scholarships available to MCC theater students.
The stagedoor scholarship is available to full-time students and the theater department will award as many of these scholarships as it can afford a semester, according to Lynn Dutson, theater director.
It was the second time the theater department held a fund-raising production at the Red Mountain Campus, according Dutson.
“Last year was not as successful only drawing about 20 people between two nights, but this year we drew over seventy people between the nights,” Dutson said.
The production preformed, Some Things Look Better Leaving was actually written by an MCC student, Jeff Slaker, two years ago, according to Dutson.
“Slacker originally wrote a one-act play for a class he was taking at the time but everyone liked it so much they asked him to finish the play, Dutson said.
The play was produced last semester at the Outback theater and was a smashing success, according to Dutson.
The hour-and-a-half production is a comedy-drama.
It looks into the life of a group of friends, some of them lovers, some of them who want to be lovers.
A large city is the setting for the play, but most of the action in the production centers around a bar.
James the main character in the play decides to leave his group of friends and move to a new city for a new start.
However, things are not that easy because James falls in love with the bartender at the bar he frequents.
He must decide whether to stay or to go.
In the mean time James friends are trying to figure out why James wants to leave and who will take his place once he is gone.
In the end all is resolved as James moves to find out the girl he fell in love with is moving to the same place and James friends figure out how to live with out him.
“The play was written well. It is not very common for such a young play write to be able to write so comical,” Dutson said.
The play was produced by several Outback theater Alumni and a couple current students.
Other scholarships available include Drama scholarships, Talent awards, and the Ron Hill scholarship.