10 Minute Plays

January 6, 2023—With a title that pays tribute to Rod Serling’s popular television show, “The Twilight Zone,” four short comedic plays will transport audiences to “The 10 Minute Zone” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023, in the Fine Arts Hall.

Tickets are $15 for adults; $9 for seniors, students, military service members and children 12 and under; and free for SF students, faculty and staff with college ID cards. Tickets are available from the Fine Arts Hall box office at 352-395-4181 or online from Showpass at showpass.com/10-minute-plays.

“If you’ve ever wondered if you were caught in a parallel universe, or wanted to learn a language no one else could understand, or thought the people on TV were watching you, you’re not alone and you’ll enjoy these comedies,” mused SF Interim Assistant Theatre Professor Matthew Lindsay, who is overseeing this student production. Presented with narration in the style of the classic “Twilight Zone” TV series, the plays explore the fringes of existence, where anything is possible. “After three years of living through our own twilight zone, ‘10 Minute Plays’ offers us opportunities to reflect and to laugh,” Lindsay explained.

Not all of the students involved are theatre majors but each play is student-directed, acted, and produced. “The Universal Language,” a play by David Ives, explores what happens when a fraud is revealed but the person who exposes it decides to join the con. “Captive Audience,” also by Ives, asks how much media consumption is too much when TV actors and their at-home audience change places.

“11 Things That Almost Happened to Rick and Hannah…and One That Actually Did,” by Bella Poynton, explores how a relationship changes when the two people involved are randomly transported to different places at the sound of a bell. “The Philadelphia,” another play by Ives, explores life in a world where nothing is as it seems and everything exists in its opposite state.

“The level of student involvement in this production enables the students to challenge themselves in the art, as well as the business, of bringing a production to the stage,” Lindsay said. “The short play format is ideal because it gives the students a complete, condensed story arc to explore in a time frame that resembles the professional theater’s hectic but creative energy.”

“The 10 Minute Zone” is sponsored by the Santa Fe College Fine Arts and Entertainment Technology Department.