Oregon Daily Emerald, November 24, 2003

The Oregon Daily Emerald is located in Erb Memorial Union, 1222 East 13th Avenue, Eugene Oregon 97403

New Voices showcases student one-act plays

The annual production features three original student-written plays

by Steven Neuman, Freelance Reporter, November 21, 2003

Seeing a play at the University Theatre's Pocket Playhouse is sort of like digging through bins at a thrift store. A measly few dollars can unearth either a gem of delight or a total disaster.

New Voices, an annual theater production comprised of student's original one-act plays, displays the full spectrum of student-playwright potential -- the good, the bad, and the sublime. All three productions utilize the same seven performers in different roles. While they sometimes fail in one piece, on the whole, they eventually prove themselves as excellent talents in at least one of the others.

The first play, "Need" by L. Maxmillian McCall, is by far the weakest entrant of the bunch. It centers around the ambiguous relationship between roommates Cole, (played smartly by Andrew Hill, and Michelle (in a weaker performance by Margie Kment. McCall's writing thrusts the audience into a vaguely apocalyptic world where the two experience a sense of sexual urgency that forces the characters to take their relationship to the next obvious step.

The two spend the remainder of the play prodding insecurities while circling each other emotionally like boxers in the ring. Kment does an admirable job but her anger feels forced and her movements feel overtly staged. Furthermore, the sexual tensions brought on by disaster come across as intensely cliché.

"Between the Lines" by Dinae E. Horne rings truer. It explores the notion that the most interesting aspect of passing conversation is not what is said, but what is thought. Although the play is focused around the chance meeting of two nameless college students, the comic timing of their respective alter-egos, played by Teresa Koberstein and Eric Dodson is where the characters really interact. Both sound off on their neurotic foibles and bring sparkle to what could easily be an intriguing or otherwise dry, dramatic experience.

The third play, "Talking to Strangers," by Matt Chorpenning is a real treat. If Woody Allen was in college today, he would be writing material like this. The piece scrutinizes the intense process of asking a stranger out on a date, or as a stumbling "Mark" and "Emily" deem it -- "a conversation." The two become familiar with each other through hilariously awkward silences.

Koberstein and Dodson exude real chemistry as the pair of reluctant lovers, and Chorpenning's self-effacing dialogue (one quickly gets the sense that "Mark" is a thinly veiled version of the author) is a perfect fit for the two. Natalie Jansson and Michael Koopman turn in a sharp renditions of the cynical best friends, and their timing meshes beautifully with the overall light-hearted tone. Kment redeems herself from "Need" as the brilliantly obnoxious barista that will be eerily familiar to any cafe patron.

New Voices runs tonight and Saturday night, starting at 5 p.m. There is no late seating. Tickets are $3 at the door at the Pocket Playhouse, located 102 Villard Hall.

Second Photo:

March 21, 2004, Humanity gets by - by `The Skin of Our Teeth'

By Fred Crafts, The Register-Guard, Portland Oregon:

Appearing in Lord Leebrick's staging of "The Skin of Our Teeth" are (from left): Johnny Ormsbee, Victoria Blake, Ken Hof, Ariel Pearlson and Teresa Koberstein.

Friday, August 06, 2004

...  "Beginnings" focuses on the relationships of God, Adam and Eve (here called Willy, Al and Meg, respectively) before the Fall, and for the most part the performers work well, if sometimes tentatively, together. David Millstone captures the qualified enthusiasm and knowing skepticism of a God who is more start-up businessman than deity. Ian Hanley as Al and Teresa Koberstein as Meg nicely convey eager innocence.

Klatt and his designers do reasonably well with modest resources. Even so, the actors' faces are all too often left in darkness, and light and sound cues could run more smoothly.

Despite the show's lack of polish, there is promise here from the Tribe Theatre and Art Gallery, which is sharing quarters with Magdelyn Theater.

Continues 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 21; 403 N.W. Fifth Ave.; $10-$15; 503-227-3976.

-- Richard Wattenberg Special to The Oregonian

Here Teresa is listed on the University student directory:

Name: Teresa A Koberstein

Level: Undergraduate

Major: Theater Arts

Email: tkoberst@gladstone.uoregon.edu

Play by Rice not just sum of its parts

The Register - Guard; Eugene, Or.; Apr 7, 2002; FRED CRAFTS The Register-Guard;

Full Text:

(Copyright 2002 The Register-Guard. All rights reserved.)

WHAT CAN YOU make of a hero named Zero? If you're University Theatre director Joseph Gilg, you build a monumental production around him.

Zero - or more properly, Mr. Zero - is the spineless principal character in Elmer Rice's classic 1923 Expressionistic drama "The Adding Machine." It's a work kept alive primarily through courses in American theater history and educational theater productions - such as the one that will be staged at Robinson Theatre beginning Friday.

...

J. Nick Dickert plays Mr. Zero. The 14-member ensemble consists of Greg Heaton, Ian Armstrong, Teresa Koberstein, Katie Plein, Wendy Leigh Browne, Jay Hash, Kellen Terrett, Christopher Voodre, Sarah Griner, Jon Sharpy, Colby Feves, Rachel Sebastian, Tasha Cyr and Danielle Kardum.