The second day of the Emerging American Voices showcase captivated the audience.
The first acts of “Auburn”, by James Molina, “Princess” by Scott Fields, and “On Days Like These” by David Miranda were performed in the Little Theatre on Sunday afternoon.
Each staged reading moved the audience with their unique perspectives and stories.
The cast of each screenplay sat in chairs across the stage giving a basis of the story with facial expressions and stage direction while a narrator read the script so that the audience could imagine the actual performances in their minds.
“Auburn” was set in a serious tone with music at the beginning of the act.
The intense, and at times comedic, scenes between Giovanni Simone’s character Alejandro, and Nick Mendoza’s character Edgar set up the plot with a murder and a nail-biting reappearance of the pair’s ex-gang.
Set in Auburn, Washington, a latino father, Alejandro, is posed with the dilemma of paying for a life-saving surgery after his leukemia-diagnosed daughter went to the beach with a weak immune system.
At the end of the act, Alejandro leaves the audience in suspense when he has to decide whether or not to rejoin his former gang.
“Princess” brought in some comedic relief with the technology-dependent Ellie, played by Shawn Wagner, who gets lost in Los Angeles after she looses her belongings.
Wagner was the perfect fit, bringing Ellie to life in a way the audience did not know they needed.
In one particular scene, Ellie is taking an Uber with a weird driver to a photo shoot somewhere in Los Angeles. It is in this scene that the audience got the technological and modern twist to a “fairytale”.
Ellie’s “escort”, Jason, played by Florian Haberland, turns the story into a sort of romantic comedy that makes the audience want the couple to make things official.
“On Days Like These” brings back the serious tone with a story about a Crime Scene Investigator, Michael, who seeks truth in the name of justice but isn’t very popular with his peers.
Anthony Nappier captures the spirit of Michael, making the audience feel for him when he get suspended for an attempt to bring about justice.
There was suspense, tragedy, comedy, all in one twenty- minute act.
Since it was just a staged reading, there was an informative Q & A time for the screenwriters to explain their visions.
Overall, Emerging American Voices left the audience wanting more than just the first act.
