Inspiration comes to the mind at play. At least that’s what Mark Blane would have people believe.

Blane, a sophomore acting major, and four students from the College of Visual and Performing Arts recently collaborated on an independent theater production that attempts to define the concept of identity.

‘Little Person,’ a play consisting of five skits, was the result of the students’ vision. Sponsored by the Renée Crown Honors Program, the play will run for three nights, from Tuesday to Thursday, in room 220 of Carnegie Library.

The five skits combine dancing, singing, visual presentations, audience interaction and YouTube videos to form a collaborative theater experience.

‘We each created our own little piece that we’re passionate about, and we brought those in and we thought it was just going to be five random pieces,’ said Blane.

Sophomore acting major Liz Tancredi’s performance focuses on an ‘absurdist’ scenario: What would happen if you had to literally fight for who you are? Taking the concept to extremes, she promises sword fights and an epic adventure, making the most of the small classroom space.

Co-performer Kristin Morris’ performance, on the other hand, tackles the concept in a different scenario.

Morris, a sophomore musical theater major, had recently seen ‘Synecdoche, New York’ and realized that one song within the movie, ‘Little Person,’ perfectly reflected her idea of ‘being a little person in a sea of little people.’

‘The music is very simple but profound at the same time, and I found the message to be something that I really resonated with, and something that everybody resonates with,’ Morris said. ‘It was important for me to do, because I’ve never put together a show before. It was a completely new experience.’

The idea behind the show went through multiple stages before the five students settled on the theme of identity.

‘At one point the show was about the seven stages of grief, and then it changed. It’s just been about collaborating and changing back and forth,’ said Blane.

While the performances focus on the theme of identity, Tancredi said that the group tried to stay away from specific themes like gender, race and sexuality. That way their message would be more universal, she said.

‘There’s a lot of pressure to focus on race and sexual orientation and stuff, but we wanted something that focused on everyone. We didn’t feel like singling people out,’ Tancredi said.

Likewise, the themes of identity and society aren’t meant to provoke debate.

‘We’re not shoving anything in anyone’s face. We’re just doing something that we made that’s creative and original and to show people that you pretty much can do anything,’ Blane said.

But ultimately the group’s efforts stem from a common passion.

‘We’re in hard times right now economically, and there’s a lot of change going on right now,’ said Tancredi. ‘We wanted to focus on joy and passion and maybe something a little more uplifting than what we usually see, so it’s a nice break for us in creating it.’

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Published on March 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm