Casts and Scenarios Selected for Saturday Night's "Overnight Sensations"

Todd Ristau gathers up the troops at Hollins' Little Theatre.

Roanoke theater royalty: GAMUT girls (front) and Stevie Holcomb with Ross and Kris Laguzza in the back.

Directors and writers pick their teams and scenarios.

We got our marching orders for "Overnight Sensations" this evening at Hollins University and I'm pumped because we got a New York writer, a master director and some pretty dang good actors in our little gang for our play, which is set on a cruise ship.

My partner Tom Field in the middle left with his cast.

"Overnight Sensations" is a group of six, 10-minute plays that are being written tonight based on scenarios and a group of actors that were selected at our gathering earlier. The writer puts the script together tonight and we actors get with the director at noon tomorrow to rehearse until showtime at 8.

I'm in a group of actors that includes Rae Norton West (whom I've just loved in Kenley Smith's "12 Stations of the Cross" as well as a production at Roanoke Children's Theatre, among other things) and Mary Jean Levin, who's been a solid Roanoke actress for years. We're being directed by Art Borreca, who is an artist in residence at Hollins these days, and the playwright is New York school teacher and theater veteran John Galvez, who stood in front of us for about 15 minutes, asking questions and writing about half a script. My guess is he'll be through by about 9 o'clock tonight.

Our cast has Rae Norton West (left), Mary Jean Levin (center) and writer John Galvez (right).

There are a lot of good--and enthusiastic--people in this production and you need to be there. It's free, so you have no excuse. It's air conditioned (boy! is it ever!), so there's that, too. Come laugh at us or with us, but laugh you will.