One Act Play Festival, April 25-27, 2003

Autumn's Child
by Tom Smith
directed by Ceil Herman

Left: Morgan Aldrich (Chloe)
Right: Morgan Aldrich (Chloe) and Cindy Murrell (Mother)

Morgan Aldrich (Chloe) and Cindy Murrell (Mother)

New plays highlight One Act Fesival
by Cheryl Thornburg
Sun Life Editor
April 25, 2003

This year's One Act Play Festival at Las Cruces Community Theatre offers drama and comedy from area theater veterans and promising newcomers from Mayfield High School. Three of the plays are by Las Crucens. Traditionally the festival provides an opportunity for playwrights to present new works and new directors to try their hands at bringing a play life. Because the festival only runs this weekend. this review is based on Wednesday night's rehearsal.

First up is "Autumn Child" a new play by local playwright Tom Smith, whose compelling, "Gray" was presented a The Black Box Theater earlier this season. Smith once again creates intriguing characters in an emotionally charged setting for this drama about a mother and daughter dealing with life and death issues.

Director Ceil Herman has chosen wisely in casting Cindy Murrell as the mother and Morgan Aldrich as her daughter.

Murrell is a familiar face to area theatergoers for such diverse roles as Dolly in "Annie Get Your Gun" at LCCT and a renowned author in "Collected Stories" at the Black Box Theatre. "Autumn's Child" gives her the chance to stretch once again as she plays a mother in a crisis situation. Murrell delivers a multi-layered portrait of this complex character. The mother-daughter relationship wouldn't he as believable without the flue performance of Aldrich as the daughter, Chloe. Aldrich, a theater arts major at NMSU, brings a vulnerability to this tragic character that makes the bizarre twists in the story make sense.

Smith's characters and his premise about what constitutes life leave a lasting impression........