Enjoy a free evening of absurdity, tragedy, and comedy at Loyola University’s Senior One-Act Festival June 1 – 2 at 7 p.m. in Lower Depths Theatre. Admission is free. This semester’s festival will include three back-to-back shows each night. The evening will begin with The Leader by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Marcus Stanley, followed by Pheadra’s Love by Sarah Kane, directed by Anne Forsyth, and conclude with The Durang Trinity, plays by Christopher Durang, directed by Lydia Burgess.

The Leader explores what happens to a community’s perception of reality when facts get distorted; reality is altered, perception becomes everything, and blind faith becomes essential to being a part of the group. In one of Ionesco’s most absurd comedies, five almost nameless characters search for answers and reality behind their one leader. How far will these characters go for a sense of belonging in the community? And why doesn’t the leader have a head?

A modern twist on Sophocles’ Hippolytus, Pheadra’s Love by Sarah Kane, is story of royal scandals and love torn suicide. Hippolytus is an apathetic slob who has sex indiscriminately, and kills love. Pheadra loves Hippolytus and though her pure love cannot change the world, her valiant death may end a monarchy.

The Durang Trinity consists of three short, tragic, yet absurdly funny one-act plays—Medea, The One Minute Play, and Nina in the Morning—written by Christopher Durang. These three plays show what happens when people loose their connection to those around them; their grasp on reality is quick to follow and they are left with only one question: “Death or Lunch?”

For more information please contact the Department of Drama and Speech at (504) 865-3840. The Senior One-Act Festival, sponsored by the Loyola Department of Drama and Speech, occurs at the end of each semester and is presented by the graduating seniors as their final thesis.