Knelt over, heaving with anxiety and desperation, theatre major Jessica Wise held the gaze from an entire audience captive as she played the part of Velma Sparrow, a character who had to confront her own dark truths in the on-campus play “Birdbath,” last week.

Wise is one of ten students who belong to the SF State theatre department’s "Brown Bag Theatre Company," which will perform a series of six, free, 50-minute-long plays during school hours between March and May. Students enrolled in the course will perform and set-up the plays.

"Birdbath," the most recent play put on by the company aired from Feb. 15 to Feb. 18 and was written by Leonard Melfi and directed by theatre major Jack Duane. Fellow theatre major Scott Ludwig performed alongside Wise in the play.

A mysterious and inviting drama, “Birdbath” explores the circumstances of both love and death. The set consisted of a '60s diner complete with red vinyl chairs, a powder pink cash register and counter, along with a single man's bedroom.

The play opened with the foreshadowing of cloudy romance with song lyrics such as, "I don't have anything since I don't have you."

"Set in the 1960s, it's about a guy struggling with alcoholism and his connection to a girl who has wounded and tortured relations with her mother," said Duane. "The two characters are tormented and have inner turmoil, so it's about their connection."

At a recent performance, Bradley Zeledon, a theatre major, said Wise and Ludwig played their parts so that the show moved along well.

"It had a lot of depth," said Zeledon. "The actors really created the atmosphere."

Wise’ mother, Sharon, flew up from her Southern California home to see Jessica in the play.

"I was really taken by it,” Sharon said. “They both did an amazing job. As Jessica's mother, it's hard to see her look so painful. She was shaking and it was hard to watch."

Although the Brown Bag Theatre seats 60, Sharon Wise was one of only a handful viewing the play on Feb. 16.
"Audience size varies," Ludwig said. "Sometimes it's over 30 but it really depends. It's not about the audience size. It's really about our rehearsal process."

In preparation for "Birdbath," Ludwig and Wise rehearsed a different page of the script each day for two weeks and then they spent a week working on development, according to Wise.

The class requires a great amount of dedication because each performance requires weeks of rehearsal and classes run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to Wise.

"Sometimes we even come in on weekends, doing load-in on the set on top of going to class," she said.

Students enrolling in the class must fulfill certain prerequisites and they must audition just to get into the class, according to theatre major Arlene Fong.

"When you audition for the class, you are also auditioning for parts in the plays,” Wise said. “Then you find out if you've gotten in and what plays you've been cast in.

“It's five units and it's so involved that you're really not able to do other theatre courses while you're in it.”

Because the class is not full this semester, each actor in the class is required to act in two to three plays and do technical set-up for two to three plays, according to theatre major Julia Normand.

Assigned directors in the class coordinate additional technical design and lighting setup according to Wise.
"It really is an intense, involved course, and we really put ourselves into it," she added.

The company’s next performance will be "Four Plays," written by David Ives, showing from March 8 to March 11.
The "Four Plays" in question are short comedies, unconnected in theme but made funnier by great writing, according to Ludwig, who will direct the performance.

"Most of our plays are from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. and they're free, so you're not going to miss out if you come," he said. For those who do plan to attend a lunchtime showing, contrary to any implications surrounding the name Brown Bag Theatre, eating is not permitted in the theatre due to past problems with trash, according to Wise.

Performances will take place in the Brown Bag Theatre, room 104 in the Creative Arts building.