This weekend, two first-year graduate degree candidates for directing will show off their directing skills. The plays run the gamut of emotions, ranging from fear to grief and hopelessness, but each maintains humor that keeps the audience involved. While the plays focus on two totally different time periods, the shows both center on the humanity that exists during times of trouble and strife.

'Strange Snow'

Matt Toronto will present Strange Snow by Stephen Metcalfe tonight and tomorrow in 6 in the Arts Building.

This genre-breaking play deals with the after-effects of the Vietnam War and how war can damage the relationships between people, especially family and returned soldiers.

The title is an allusion to a line in Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream. Though the exact meaning is not completely apparent, the title seems to draw a comparison between the Vietnam War and a bad dream.

Strange Snow revolves around three characters: Joseph Meggest (Megs) and Dave, two Vietnam veterans, and Dave's sister, Martha.

During battle, Megs, Dave and their comrade Bobby make a pact to go fishing on the opening day of the season upon returning home.

Megs still wishes to fulfill the promise once he and Dave are home, but Dave wants to forget about everything that happened in Vietnam.

When Megs shows up on Dave's doorstep early one morning, he becomes the catalyst for change in Dave's life, as well as Martha's.

"Megs is the outside force that turns the dysfunctional family on its ear. He helps Dave and Martha to heal," said Andrea Day (graduate-acting), who plays Martha.

Strange Snow deals with universal themes, including the pain of losing people, guilt and the trauma of war.

"It is also a play about three characters coming to terms with and accepting the past so that they can have a future," said Jack Landry (graduate-acting), who plays Dave.

While the show revolves around the topic of war, Strange Snow also contains elements of a romantic comedy based on the relationship that blossoms between Megs and Martha.

"It's about war and love," Toronto said. "It is a show that deals with pain but that has comic undertones."

The poignancy of Strange Snow immediately inspired Toronto to choose this show.

"This play speaks to our generation because war is on our mind," said Toronto. "We may not be right in the middle of it, but it affects us through our friends and family who are involved."

'Bent'

Julio Matos (graduate-theatre) will be directing Martin Sherman's Bent, which is about a series of events in one man's life during the WWII era, tomorrow and Saturday.

The man struggles through his journey from freedom to bondage and to freedom again. The story follows Max, the main character, through a few years of his life, mostly consisting of scenes in a concentration camp.

As a homosexual male in a concentration camp, Max is treated even lower than most of the other prisoners. The persecution of homosexuals has always been largely overlooked and unstudied and Bent shows one person's experience in dealing with this issue.

However, Matos said Bent is not a play about homosexuals, nor is it about the Holocaust, in particular.

"It is another story about a man confronting the mirror and confronting himself," Matos said.

In this way, Matos hopes to connect with his audience by creating a work that people can relate to.

Matos' main goal is not to change anyone's mind but to teach tolerance and understanding.

Max's actions may seem unimaginable to those who have not been in the same situation; however, the actors strive to truthfully portray the events of Max's life.

"Some of the events in the play are inconceivable, but we are doing our best to replicate how a human being would react in those situations," said Mike Lewis (senior-musical theater), who plays Rudy, Max's boyfriend.

Despite this heavy subject matter, Matos is trying to treat the play, mostly, as a comedy.

"The only way we can deal with what is going on is through humor," Matos said.

The concept of using comedy as an intricate part of a play that takes place during WWII may seem contradictory.

Despite this, Matos hopes that the audience will find through the play that humor exists in every life, no matter what the circumstances.

"It will be a little jarring, but it will also be entertaining," Matos said.

Matos specifically chose the location in the Arts Building because the audience and the actors can share one uninterrupted space. There is no separate stage, which gives the audience a feel of being part of the action.

"Bent is not a typical linear narrative," said Matos. "It is a series of happenings in one small space about one man's survival."