One-act plays with a message of peace to be performed Oct. 6-8 at Goshen College

Event: Goshen College 2006 One-Act Peace Plays
Dates and times: Friday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m.
Location: Umble Center
Cost: $3 at the door

GOSHEN, Ind. – Different people have different visions of peace. On Oct. 6-8, during Goshen College’s Homecoming Weekend, the winning entries in the 2006 Goshen College Peace Play Contest will be performed in Umble Center, offering multiple perspectives on issues of peace and justice. According to Professor of Communication and Theater Doug Liechty Caskey, this is the only contest devoted solely to plays about peace and peace-related topics in the United States of which he has knowledge.

This will be the world premiere production of this year’s Goshen College Peace Play Contest winners, performed by the GC Players. The first place winner is “Baby Boom” by Lia Romeo, directed by Talashia Keim Yoder. The second place winner is “Acts of Contrition” by Patricia Montley (with selected scenes performed), directed by Fritz Hartman. The plays will be performed in Umble Center on Friday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 7 at 4 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 8 at 2 p.m.

Director Keim Yoder said, “On one level, ‘Baby Boom’ is a play about a couple that tests their community’s idea of accepting diversity when they choose to adopt a machine gun as their baby. But it is also about people who choose their reality. It is about what happens when five people’s perceptions of reality collide. What happens when we each have a picture of the way we want our world to be, and the pictures others have don’t match ours?”

Romeo, of Highland Park, N.J., is currently enrolled at the Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts pursuing a master’s of fine arts degree in playwriting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in comparative literature from Princeton University. She also majored in creative writing for a post-graduate year of study at Interlochen (Mich.) Arts Academy.

Performing “Baby Boom” will be Tara Hershberger (Jr., Hesston, Kan.), Derek Koch (Jr. Colorado Springs, Colo.), Annali Smucker (Fr., Akron, Pa.), Krista Ehst (Jr., Bally, Pa.) and Adam Rice (Fr., Mount Rainier, Md.). Grace Magnan (Soph., Minneapolis, Minn.) is the stage manager.

About “Acts of Contritition,” Hartman said, “I think it is an inclination for many of us to strive to reduce friction in our relationships at all costs, so we are taught to seek forgiveness and to dole it out liberally. In ‘Acts of Contrition,’ playwright Montley suggests that this approach works sometimes, but at other times, the friction is something that must be present – something that must be studied and felt for a long time.”

Montley holds a doctorate in theatre arts from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Notre Dame. A member of the Dramatists Guild, she has written 40 plays (10 published). Her work has enjoyed 140 productions and won/placed in 14 contests, including first place in the 2004 Peace Play Contest. She’s been supported by residencies at Goucher College, the Millay Artists’ Colony and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program and by grants from the Maryland and Pennsylvania Arts Councils, the Shubert Foundation, the Mary Roberts Rinehart Foundation and Warner Brothers. She’s taught playwriting at the University of Maryland, Chatham College and (currently) in the Odyssey Program at Johns Hopkins.

Performing “Acts of Contrition” will be Eric Ponce (Fr., Elkhart, Ind.), Ramiro Racey (Fr., Baltimore, Md.), Rachel Halder (Fr., Parnell, Iowa), Nate Burmester (Soph., Burnsville, Minn.), Molly Moyer (Jr., San Diego, Calif.), Gina Rambow (Soph., Battle Creek, Mich.), Kevin Mulia (Fr., Singapore), Karla Santiago (Fr., Lancaster, Pa.) and Alex Roth (Sr., Palmer Lake, Colo.). Ellen McCrae (Soph., Akron, Pa.) will be the stage manager.

The production staff for both one-act plays are: Doug Liechty Caskey (producer); Jerry Peters (technical director); Cassie Greer (Sr., South Bend, Ind.) (set and light design); Doug Hallman (Fr., Lancaster, Pa.) (sound design and operator); Aaren Myers (Soph., Tualatin, Ore.) (costumer); David King (Jr., Hutchinson, Kan.) (light operator); Sara Thogersen (Jr., Goshen) (hair/make-up); Brian Mast (production manager); and Emily Stuckey (Sr., West Unity, Ohio) (house manager).

Professor of Communication and Theater, producer and chair of the Play Selection Committee Doug Liechty Caskey said, “More than 60 plays were submitted to the 2006 Peace Play Contest. An exciting aspect of our playwriting contest, now over 20 years in existence, is that the ideas of playwrights from all around North America challenge us to think in fresh ways about what it means to be compassionate peacemakers. This helps those of us in a peace church tradition to avoid the tendency toward complacency on such a timely and important calling.”

There will be a 15-20 minute talk-back session with Lia Romeo, the winning playwright, immediately following each performance.

All seats cost $3 and can be purchased at the Goshen College Welcome Center by calling (574) 535-7566, or at the door. The plays are recommended for grades 6 and up.

For the first time in the contest’s history, an “honorable mention” was awarded to “Oval Office” by S. W. Senek. It will not be performed during this production.

The next contest deadline for entering one-act play scripts is Dec. 31, 2007. The first place award is a $500 cash prize, a fully staged production of the previously unproduced one-act play, coverage of expenses to attend the play’s world premiere at Goshen College. Second play award is a $100 cash prize and possible staging of the one-act play. The winning entry will be produced in 2008. Contact Goshen College Professor of Communication and Theater Doug Liechy Caskey for contest rules and guidelines at douglc@goshen.edu or (574) 535-7393.

The Goshen College Peace Play Contest, is underwritten by a grant from the Disciples of Peace, a Middlebury (Ind.) charitable fellowship, established in 1982.

Previous winners of the Peace Play Contest are:


1982 – “The Dove, the Hawk and the Phoenix,” by Norman A. Bert


1984 – “After the First Death,” by Richard Strayton


1986 – “Shadows,” by Scott Memmer


1988 – “Eminent Domain” by Ronald L. Dye


1990 – “Rock In A Weary Land” by Marian Towne


1994 – “Andromache in Baghdad” by Norma Jenckes


1998 – “Bombers” by Jonathan Graham first place, and “Catch a Falling Start” by Darrel deChabey second place


2000 – “Where Are You From?” by Helayne Schiff first place, and “Topaz” by Kenny Berkowitz second place


2002 – “The Photo Shoot” by John Wolfson first place, and “The Story” by Rebecca Schwarz second place


2004 – “Enough” by Patricia Montley first place, and “In a Time of War” by Eric Diener Meyer second place.

Editors/Photographers: A photo shoot for local media will be on Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. on the Umble stage. Photographers are also welcome to take photos during the final dress rehearsal, if this is preferred, for Baby Boom that begins at approximately 9:20 p.m. that same night. If you have any questions, contact Doug Liechty Caskey at (574) 536-9294.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu.