This week Vanier College Productions presents the premier of Freshman 15: Sex! Drugs! and Student Loans!, a new play by student Ellen Ross Stuart.
Set in a university residence, the 90-minute play "offers glimpses of the many people you interact with during the year but hardly ever get to know," says Stuart. She has created lives for characters she would have liked to get to know better. "People are so fascinating. You get to meet so many and you get to know so few."
Right: Nel Stuart
The play’s title, Freshman 15, derives from university lore that says first-year students gain 15 pounds in weight and drop 15 per cent in marks. There are 15 females in the cast, reflecting Stuart’s first-year experience living with mostly young women in Founders College residence.
Stuart, known as Nel, is a second-year anthropology student. She intended to study English at York but veered into anthropology after travelling to Asia and South America for a year. The daughter of theatre Prof. Ross Stuart has written six plays, one an award-winner at the Sears Drama Festival, and the 20-year-old has decided she can no longer resist the call of the stage. Next year, she hopes to get into the theatre program at York.
The play is produced by Butterfly Venom and will be performed at the Vanier Studio Theatre, Room 202 Vanier College. The show previews tonight, opens Wednesday and continues Thursday and Friday at 7:30pm. On Saturday there is a matinee at 5pm followed by an performance at 8. On Sunday, the matinee is at 2pm.
Tickets are $10, or $7 for students. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. For reservations, call the Vanier Theatre box office at 416 736-2100 ext. 40023.