NHS Grad Performs Her Play At Stratford Fringe Festival

By Laurie Borst

Lindsey Greene has had an exciting year. She graduated this June from Newtown High School and, one week later, saw her first play performed at the Stratford Fringe Festival.

Lindsey has enjoyed “writing for fun forever.” Starting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lindsey found writing natural. She began with short stories and “little snippets,” later graduating to journal writing and poetry. In elementary school, she wrote a few stories for The Footprint Post. In high school, she wrote for the school paper, The Hawkeye.

The summer before her junior year, Lindsey attended a summer writing camp. It was here that she was introduced to monologues. The students were directed to write down a name, age, and characteristic for a character, and proceeded to write a monologue. This grew into her play, The Sculpture.

The following summer, which preceded her senior year, she began working seriously on the play, knowing it was to be the focus of her senior project. She completed the writing during the fall semester, and by the beginning of the spring semester, had a cast rehearsing her script.

Students who take part in the Senior Project Program work with a mentor in the field. Lindsey’s mentor was Ruth Anne Baumgartner. Ms Baumgartner has directed plays for the Town Players of Newtown, Westport Community Theatre, the Rainbow Theatre, and Newtown High School, among others. While she did not work directly on the Fringe Festival production, she had given Lindsey some suggestions.

The Sculpture takes place in Central Park, where a sculpture is on display. Four characters populate the stage. Olivia and Damon are two people who observe the sculpture and share their thoughts in the form of monologues. Olivia is waiting for her friend Connor to arrive. She talks about him, relating the sculpture to her unrequited relationship with him. Connor appears on stage, but has a nonspeaking role.

Damon has just arrived from the train station. He has returned from telling his parents that he is gay. He relates the sculpture to his feelings towards his father.

The third character, Gwen, is “a translation between the characters and the audience,” Lindsey explained. “She tells the truth, what’s really going on with the characters.”

Lindsey’s play was performed at Newtown High School in May. There was no charge to attend, but donations were accepted for Canine Advocates of Newtown and $100 was raised. On the NHS stage, Brian Stickles played Damon, Lindsey was Olivia, Erin McDonald was Gwen, and Shane McCarthy appeared as Connor.

When Lindsey learned about the Stratford Fringe Festival, she decided to submit her play, never expecting to be chosen. The Festival is open to one-act plays with a running time of under 20 minutes.

“This festival spotlighted professional playwrights, offering limited spots for young writers,” she said.

Twelve plays were performed on June 29 at several restaurants in Stratford. The Sculpture was performed at the Blue Point Grill. Other locations were Ciao, Reality Café, and The Shell Station. Audiences were asked to vote for their favorite play, which was announced the following evening.

When the play was staged at the Blue Point Grill, the cast altered. Brian was not able to participate, so Connor was cut, and Shane played Damon. Brianna Eckhardt replaced Erin as Gwen, also. All the actors graduated from Newtown High this year.

Lindsey explained that her characters “just evolved” as she wrote.

“When I write, I don’t sit there and think of where I want it to go,” she said. “I follow the characters where they go.

“I think everyone has bits of Olivia and Damon in them,” she added.

The play’s only scenery is a park bench. The sculpture is only hinted at, with actors looking off stage into the wings when talking about it. Olivia describes it as “it’s not abstract, it’s deranged.”

Lindsey has enjoyed the experience very much. “It’s fun to see that it’s something I could do for fun and have something cool come out of it.”

“If I could choose one thing to do, writing plays would be it,” she said.

This fall, Lindsey will begin her freshman year at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the writing program.