The Rocket

Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Submitted Photo Theater majors Andrea Carlin, 22, left, Aaron Thurston, 24, Jackie Freeman, 21, Zach Nading, 20, and Nick Ciesielski, 22, handed out flyers for their performance of the play "The Margins" in Scotland. The student performers were in Scotland July 29 to Aug. 13. The play was written by theater department professor, Dr. David Skeele, and directed by associate professor, Laura Smiley.

A select group of students from the SRU theater department traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland this summer from July 29 through Aug. 13 to perform the original play "The Margins" in The Festival Fringe.

The Festival Fringe is an event in Scotland that showcases acts such as comedies, musicals, operas, children's shows and dance. This year, the 2008 Festival Fringe showcased 2,088 shows at 247 different venues.

"The Margins" is a new horror play written by Dr. David Skeele, an SRU theatre professor, and directed by Laura Smiley, assistant professor of theatre. It is a one-act play about a group of psychics that get together to perform an experiment, but things go awry.

Erin Berger, a 21-year-old senior, double majoring in secondary education and theater, was one of the actors in the show.

Berger has been involved with the SRU theater department since the first semester of her freshman year.

She said that choosing who got to go on the trip was a rigorous process. They had to perform two contrasting monologues in closed auditions [meaning that auditions were limited to theater majors, theater minors, and people who are active in the SRU theater department], Berger said.

"They wanted to bring the best," she said.

Berger said that her trip to Scotland with the other actors was the most amazing experience of her entire life.

"It was amazing to be surrounded by people that love art and love theater," she said. "It was such an incredible atmosphere."

Berger said that performing in Scotland surpasses performing in the United States because the spectators actually want to see the play.

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