Those Tufts students who go abroad for a semester often learn that the less-than-comparable academic rigor of other universities, combined with the sudden dearth of extracurricular activities, leavesthem with quite a bit of free time. Some of us spend that newly-realized free time honing our Intermediate Minesweeper skills or catching up on missed "Sopranos" episodes. Jennifer duBois took a new approach when she studied in Prague in the spring of 2005: She wrote a full-length play that was performed in Boston over the past two weekends.
"At Tufts it's hard to have a lot of extra free time, [but in Prague] I had a lot of time on my hands, basically," said duBois, who is also an editorialist for the Daily. "I've taken a lot of fiction classes at Tufts, but I was interested in trying a different form and trying to write a play"
"Diffusion of Loss," the result of duBois' leisure time, was picked up by 11:11 Theatre Company, a Boston-based theater group, and performed last Friday and Saturday nights at Midway Studios.
After she returned from Prague, duBois showed "Diffusions of Lost" to 11:11's artistic director and founder, and from there, "it took about a year for it to get produced," she said.
The play, duBois said, is "about a suburban family the night before they move in separate directions."
The separate directions duBois speaks of are both literal - the mother and father separate, and their daughter and her friends leave for college - and figurative, as the play's five characters learn of each other's past and present treachery.
The play is "about the fraying marriage paralleling with the betrayal going on between the friends," said duBois. "It all takes place in the house on this single night, and these betrayals are revealed on this night before everyone leaves."
"I didn't really know much about theater," duBois said.
She met with the director at various times through the production process to talk about music and casting for the show, but overall duBois said she "didn't have a really strong role" in the production aspect of her play.
The translation from page to stage didn't phase duBois. "It was eerie how the [actors cast as the] parents were so exactly what I pictured," she said.
Though duBois would like to continue her playwriting, she said she's "not sure when I'll be lucky enough to write again because it's such a time commitment."
Next time you're about to press the "Click to Start" button on Text Twist, consider instead crafting a full-length play; you may even see it realized before you leave Tufts.
