UpStart 2016: Festival of Innovative Theatre

The 2016 UpStart Festival is the latest edition in the University of Waterloo’s bi-annual one-act play festival, and features three new scripts written, developed, directed and designed by Theatre and Performance students working under faculty supervision.

The Rocket Man - Adapted from Ray Bradbury's short story of the same title, The Rocket Man delivers a view on family life in a world where space travel is common and homes automatically clean themselves.  The family of a “rocket man” anxiously awaits his arrival from the latest dangerous, glamorous mission, knowing that when he does return nothing will ever be the same.  Kelly Hornung’s stage adaptation brings the dazzling, romantic world of Bradbury's imagination to life, along with his vivid characters and the terrible lessons they must learn.  Directed by Meghan Landers.

Out of the Box - written by Jenn Addesso and directed by Mollie Garrett.  Imagination can take us on far-off adventures through time and space, or hold us captive with painful memories. Out of the Box is the story of children’s author Avery Corwin, the writer's block he suffers as he tries to complete his best-selling book series, and questions of what happens to the imagination when we are forced to grow up.

Phone Book - written and directed by Sam Beuerle and Emma Mann.  A young man feels his life is far too predictable, so he decides the only logical course of action is to call ten strangers from a pay phone in the hope that he might break from his script. Phone Book is a one-man show that explores the repetitive nature of our day-to-day lives.