Cap & Bells’ annual Fall Play Festival will feature two student-written plays, The Favour by Bianca Arce ’24 and Put the Fun in Funeral by Kathryn Cloonan ’25. The festival will be held tomorrow at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 6 p.m., and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Currier Ballroom.
[Editor’s note: Cloonan is an executive editor for the Record and was not involved in the writing or editing of this piece.]
Arce’s play, The Favour, is a Regency-era romance that follows the story of Verona Fletcher (Stella Rothfeld ’26). Fletcher volunteers to crossdress as a man and pose as a suitor for her heartbroken cousin — and she subsequently finds herself in quite the scandal. The story unravels from there and emphasizes themes of forgiveness and accepting what your heart wants.
The Favour has been in the works for three years, Arce said. The play began in prose form but was adapted into a four-scene play when Arce initially decided to propose her idea to Cap & Bells last spring. “They really liked my idea, but because it wasn’t finished, I was told that it could be re-submitted the following semester,” she said. “I spent around four or five weeks writing the full play in preparation.”
When writing The Favour, Arce primarily drew inspiration from Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and explored themes from the play in her own work. “I really liked the idea of a story about a girl who dresses more traditionally masculine,” she said. “I found that dynamic interesting and wanted to explore it.” In addition to Shakespeare, Arce took inspiration from her own life and 17th century French opera singer Julie d’Aubigny.
Rothfeld said she hopes The Favour offers a more nuanced perspective on Regency-era life than traditional depictions of the period. “I hope audiences get a glimpse into slightly odd or reshaped character tropes that are typically presented during this time period,” she said. “[The play] examines the fact that even wealthy people at this time were fighting to conform or not conform to societal expectations.”
“I want people to be able to relate to these characters and be encouraged to participate in student-run theatre here,” Arce added.
Rothfeld said that having the chance to originate a role for a new play has been an exhilarating but demanding process. “I’ve pulled from a lot of character traits from my younger self that connect to the character traits of Verona,” Rothfeld said. “I’ve thought a lot about myself when I was a young kid — obviously not living in England in the 1800s, but definitely feeling familiar with what it’s like to not be as feminine as you’re expected to be when growing up, which comes up for Verona because she crossdresses as a man.”
For Arce, executing her directorial vision in a new, original work was similarly challenging. “Directing my own play has been exciting but also difficult because I want to be so precise with my vision, and I’ve learned that it’s not always going to work out that way,” she said. “I’ve been open to feedback from my cast throughout the directing process.”
Performing the play in Currier Ballroom rather than more conventional performance spaces at the College has presented some unique challenges to the cast and crew, Rothfeld said. “I think there are lots of pros to working in Currier, such as being more up-close and intimate with the audience,” Rothfeld said. “There are also a lot of pros to working on a big stage, and I definitely wish those resources were more available to [Cap & Bells] as a student-run group, but it’s been really great working in Currier for me.”
Lighting designer Sari Klainberg ’25 similarly expressed that working in Currier has presented obstacles. “The lighting that exists in Currier Ballroom is not super conducive to the kind of theatrical lighting we were envisioning,” Klainberg said. “Since I’m designing for both plays, the overall goal was to have a light plot that could be really simple and also adaptable for both plays.”
Cloonan’s play, Put the Fun in Funeral, will be staged second, switching the setting from a Regency-era romance to a modern-day funeral. “People are going to experience a tiny bit of whiplash,” the show’s stage manager, Tatiana Geroulanou ’25, said. “It’s definitely a dark comedy.”
The play opens with Emery Hart (Arden Caldicott ’26) arriving at her own funeral as a ghost, guided by a character named Gabrielle (Saumya Shinde ’26). “She planned her entire funeral to be funny so that nobody at her funeral would grieve,” Caldicott said.
Caldicott auditioned for the play after participating in a read-through of the script as Kieran Archer-Hart, Emery’s granddaughter. Cloonan saw Caldicott’s potential to embody the light-hearted yet tragic elements of Emery’s character and encouraged her to audition for the role. “When people come to see the show, they’ll see what a great job Arden does with the character,” Geroulanou said.
Each of the funeral attendees — including Emery’s daughter (Emma Hennessey ’26), granddaughter (Jax Alvarez ’27), best friend (Stella Rothfeld ’26), one of her former students (Mati Rogers ’24), and a priest (Carl May ’25) — must cope with the loss of Emery, their complicated relationships with her, and the jarring presence of comedy at a funeral.
“Each character in this show brings a different perspective on grief … including Emery, who’s the one who’s being grieved,” Caldicott said. Emery also must face the flaws of her relationship with her daughter, knowing that she won’t be able to see her again. “Emery is coming to terms with the fact that grieving is a process,” Caldicott said.
“The whole play is about this idea of not making amends — leaving relationships unfulfilled and getting the opportunity to revise them,” Geroulanou added. “People kind of leave with [reflecting on] spending time with your friends, with your family, and … the people around you and where you are.”
But the experience is not merely contemplative: The audience members also act as attendees at the funeral. “It’s not even really a show,” Caldicott said. “You’re part of it.”
Participants in the Fall Play Festival expressed the importance of presenting student-written projects at the College. “I know [student-written work] sometimes doesn’t get the same buzz as more well-known pieces that go up at the College, but your peers are kind of awesome,” Klainberg said. “They write incredible things, and everyone should come out in support because these plays are going to be incredible.”
