The date is the 9th of November 2021, only four and a half weeks before the day of the premiere, and you have just been told your group must devise, stage, and perform a 15-minute play. “They’ll be called the One-Acts”, says Keith LeFever, head of the Salem College Theatre Club. There is no sign of deadline panic on his face, and no doubt that he has confidence in his actors, who have only been together for one epoch. You wonder how he has such faith in you, as you walk over to a table fully covered with miscellaneous items. You are supposed to pick one to use as a starting point for devising your theatre piece; but what should you choose, when every single object can spiral off into its own fantastical story? The deadline pounds inside your head again – the 3rd of December – forcing your hand to dive into a sea of objects and select just one single item. A telephone, a letter, a murder, a photograph and a song, so many stories waiting to be told. And so the journey begins…

Suddenly, you’re standing on stage. Muscles tensed, spotlights flooding every inch of your costume so brightly that you can’t quite make out the audience. But you can hear their applause and cheers, nonetheless. It is at this exact moment when you realize that a few weeks of blood, sweat and, most certainly, tears, were worth it! 

The One-Acts were enthralling, exciting, entertaining, and above all else, they were a period of growth for all who were involved. The process taught us the valuable lessons of teamwork including collaboration with Salem Kolleg and how to deeply explore and engage with our creative imagination, and gifted us with unparalleled stage experience. One-Acts: A night to be forever remembered.

Leopold Lind, IB1