A Night of Two One-Act Plays at NEC
New England College’s Carriage Theatre Ensemble will present, A Night of Dating Lessons, two one-act plays, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights March 26, 27, and 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 29 at 3:00 p.m. Performances of A Night of Dating Lessons will be held at the Studio Theatre in the College’s Carriage House at 35 Main Street in Henniker, New Hampshire.
A Night of Dating Lessons features two one-act plays: Blind Date by Horton Foote, and Scuba Lessons by Joseph Zeccola. The storylines of both plays take the audience back to a time before online dating services when matches were often made the old fashioned way – a blind date. Without the assistance of internet dating services that use a variety of “scientific” methods to make their introductions, the blind date was often arranged by friends, family, and co-workers, who had their own ideas of the perfect match.
In Blind Date, the 1985 one-act play by Horton Foote, a high-strung woman who was featured in the beauty pages of her own yearbook, tries desperately to set up a scripted date for her sassy niece. With the addition of one very tired and hungry husband, the evening quickly dissolves into name calling, lost tempers, and possibly the worst blind date in recorded history.
In 1962, Horton Foote received an Academy Award for his adaptation of the Harper Lee book, To Kill a Mockingbird. The 1983 film, Tender Mercies, for which he wrote the screenplay, was nominated for six Academy Awards, and he received a Pulitzer Prize for his 1995 drama, The Young Man From Atlanta.
Scuba Lessons by Joseph Zeccola, features a desperate and quirky woman searching for true love after consulting her daily horoscope. Discouraged by her lack of success with her own dull date, she focuses her attention on a friend’s blind date.
Joseph Zeccola graduated from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas in 1997. He is the author of the 1994 play, A Mellanzana on Tony’s Roof, the 2008 drama, Heart of Hearing, and a short film, Twice in the Head.
The Carriage Theatre Ensemble, initiated by students at New England College in 1991,continues to be a student-managed theatre company with faculty advisors. Reservations for tickets may be made by calling 603-428-2485. General admission is $7; students, NEC faculty and staff, and seniors $5. A portion of the proceeds will go to Delfeayo Marsalis’ Uptown Music Theatre in New Orleans.
