Six tents adorned the stage, lights shaped to resemble flames danced delicately across their surfaces. The scene was one of tranquility as sophomore Elise Lockwood, the lone performer for "Honest to God," strode to take her place center stage.
The play, written by senior JC Pankratz, is a staged reading that revolves around a young woman named Nina who has recently returned to her childhood home in rural Iowa. She awakens one night and finds a burning bush. Strangely enough, the bush refuses to be extinguished, becoming a burning bush of biblical description.
Word of the bush spreads like fire - no pun intended - and Nina soon finds town residents setting up camp in her yard. As the bush burns on, Nina finds herself struggling to deal with both the new neighbors and her long-dormant internal turmoil.
The play was one of four national finalists for the John Cauble Award for Outstanding Short Play, which recognizes outstanding scripts each year at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre National Festival, where "Honest to God" was performed last week.
JC Pankratz, senior, wrote the play as an assignment for class that had to be about ritual, obsession and a theme of "green."
"I thought of the burning bush as I was getting into bed one night," Pankratz said. The remaining details of the play stemmed from that thought and she eventually had the first draft of "Honest To God" written. She said that while writing the play, a handful of challenges presented themselves.
"I struggled with how the end was going to go," Pankratz said. "It has a burning bush so I was like, 'Am I going to let it burn forever or am I going to put it out?' There were just certain points where I wasn't sure where it was going to go."
Although when it came to whom Pankratz wanted to play the role of Nina, she knew precisely what kind of character to look for.
"Somebody who could handle the rigors of doing a one-woman show," she said. "Someone with a lot of energy and spirit and passion."
Lockwood had not originally planned on auditioning for the staged reading, believing it was already cast. However, it had not, and Gigi Fenlon, who directed the play, requested that Lockwood try out for the part, which she received. She explained that playing Nina was her first experience with a solo reading.
"Honestly, before this, I wasn't that comfortable doing monologues," Lockwood said. "There's a comfort factor with having someone else onstage with you. You have their energy and their support and that makes a huge difference. In this, Gigi and the rest of the crew really became my support. I've learned to be less afraid of looking at the audience."
Lockwood explained that learning to become more comfortable as the lone actor onstage was one of the greatest challenges. In her efforts to overcome this challenge, another imaginary character made its way into the play.
"I've been taught that with monologues, you never just want to tell a story," she said. "You always want to be trying to affect someone else, you always want to try to get something. So Gigi, JC and I collaborated to invent another person that I was talking to, so that I had motivation to tell the story. Inventing that other person (his name is Jesus, pronounced Hey-soos) and keeping him in mind was difficult, especially because he's not in the script."
Despite the challenges involved with being alone on stage, Lockwood said that she truly enjoyed the experience and that it encouraged her to push her limits. By becoming acquainted with her character, Nina, she has learned to test her personal boundaries.
"I've really wanted to get out of my comfort zone this year," she said. "Nina's juxtaposed sarcasm and vulnerability was a challenge that I loved trying to figure out. Playing Nina has been like looking at a puzzle and thinking it's 100 pieces, then taking it apart and finding out it's 1,000. Putting those pieces together was hard, but I think I'm almost there. Maybe I've got 950 of them put together."
Students who attended the play certainly agreed that Lockwood put on an excellent performance.
"I thought it was really provocative and delightful," junior Bri Dennison said. "It was wonderful performance, and I truly enjoyed the entire show."
For Pankratz, "Honest to God" was an experience that she thoroughly enjoyed during the entire process, from writing the first draft to watching the last show.