Theater at Washington and Lee

Dreaming and Duelling

Screenplay Adapted by J.D. Martinez
Screenplay & Directed J.D. Martinez
Based on a play by Jon Lazarus

Scenic Design by Owen Collins
Properties Design by Tom Anderson
Costume Design by Tom Anderson
Lighting Design by Owen Collins
Technical Direction by Tom Anderson
Production Supervision by Nicole Risey

As a director of theater and film, I draw upon my own life-experiences to lend credibility to my artistic work. I've recently lived through my oldest daughter's adolescence. Through that interesting process, I've learned and remembered a great deal about the emotional strife that often troubles a young person during those turbulent "coming of age" years. Capitalizing on that recent experience, I've chosen to adapt a play written by Canadian playwright, Jon Lazarus, into a filmscript that portrays the sometimes intense emotional chaos of late adolescence.

Although it is set right here and now on the W&L campus, the story ends with a duel to the death between best friends. The film is a dramatic exploration of the dark side of a college Freshman's world, where the characters attempt to cope with the betrayal of secrets, the tyranny of peer pressure, the cruelty of social conventions and the agonies of lost love. The conclusion of this tragic tale of adolescent turmoil provides a lesson in how the edges of fantasy and reality can often become blurred in the adolescent mind.

This is the first feature-length DV film produced by the W&L Theater Department and we are all (students, faculty and staff) excited and a bit nervous about the challenges presented by this enormous project. It will take us all year to shoot and edit the film in time for a Spring 2005 screening in the Elrod Commons Movie Theater. I hope that you will join us for this inaugural event and be a part of our own Movie Premier.

Performances