"Dice" in the Star - See it this Weekend!

I opened this morning's Star to see Dice profiled first as "one of the more interesting-sounding theatrical events."

■ “Dice” by Chris Plante and Sam Ryan. Plante, who grew up in Lee’s Summit, and Ryan, who comes from the Brookside area, are second-year students in New York University’s dramatic writing program. The show is a collection of six world-premiere 10-minute plays written specifically for KC Fringe. Four are two-person plays, and two are monologues.

“In the process of brainstorming the plays we ran across an article that this was the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s miracle year,” Ryan said. He referred to 1905. In an explosion of intellectual energy, Einstein that year published his theory of relativity, proved the existence of atoms and paved the way for quantum physics.

“So we decided each of our plays would be based on one of the concepts from his work.”

Ryan said staging the show was an opportunity to put together original work on a shoestring.

“It’s an interesting proposition to just put on a play with the people you know and the resources you have,” he said.

“Dice” will be performed at 9 p.m. Friday; 7:30 and 10 p.m. Saturday; and 7 p.m. Sunday at Arts Incubator, 115 W. 18th St. The show is for mature audiences only.

I'll admit that I'm excited about the production. I have heard the rehearsals (staged in my living room) for two of the six acts, and I'm excited to see them staged. The attention and intelligence that the actors in these two segments (Tyson Brody, Jesse Smith and Eliza Hornig) bring to the table are incredible. They aren't doing this for money or for school attention or any reason other than to help bring an interesting production to life. Listening to them as I worked at the computer, I was struck by their intensity, and also by the obvious joy they were taking in their work. I was also struck by fatherly pride to hear Sam offer insightful director's comments.

Sam will also perform a monologue written by Chris, which I haven't heard, and am eager to see. I also haven't the three one-acts that Sam wrote. I'm planning to attend the Friday night and Sunday evening shows - please consider coming out to the Arts Incubator . . .