On March 16th, members and friends of the CMS community witnessed something magical at the West of Lenin theater in Freemont, as they watched staged readings of Warren Etheredge’s latest curation of student screenplays. And do not think for a moment, dear reader, that because I was a willing participant – yes, I can read for the stage and screen – that I will not render an unvarnished, unbiased review. This could not be further from the truth. The showing was the culmination of six long weeks filled with excitement, curiosity, and yes, frustration from students enrolled in CMS 470 – advanced screenwriting. The class, taught by Etheredge, is the second in a two-course series in which students spend an entire quarter practicing the craft of screenwriting – emphasis on practice. The first three weeks are spent in close analysis of various short films, many screened at the Walla Walla Movie Crush, to determine what makes them work: visually, narratively, thematically, but most importantly, what works on the page. All the while, students draft various scenes for their own screenplays, with many of the ideas stemming from their time in CMS 370, the first class in the two-course series. Then comes week four: the long-dreaded moment when students are tasked with finalizing their select scenes to pitch to one another. Roughly twenty-four stories get slung across the class Discord; only six emerge. Students are then drafted into teams by the head writer, the student whose pitch was chosen, a process made significantly easier this year due in large part to the coding genius of Edgelo. Now, you may wish, dear reader, that I move from the laborious detail of the class structure to the more exciting review of the evening’s event. I will, momentarily. But I must stress just how hard these students work. Ten weeks is not much time to go from concept to a tangible piece of writing, let alone amid the flurry of other classes, work schedules, and the all- important need to eat, rest, and be a human outside of school. This is not for the faint of heart.
March 16th represented the culmination of all those efforts – countless hours, late nights, and ebbs and flows of anxiety. It was a triumphant tour de force. The line-up consisted of six screenplays, each with a different style and theme, yet each rooted in sincere human emotion – empathy at its finest. Opening the night was a class favorite, Gloves (Emma Welch), followed by Rot to Bloom (Sydney Berentson), and Unearthed (Ruby Martin), an audience knock-out. A brief intermission broke up the two acts before resuming with another favorite, Bunker (Amanda Kang), then Free Will (Elaina Sung), and closing the night, The Genevive Show (Alex Gomez). And supporting it all were not only the dedicated teams behind the writers but also the committed actors – many of them students in the class – who brought these stories to life. Gomez powered the night with her commanding voice as the narrator of several screenplays, while Sam Teske delivered a spirited performance, amid rumpus audience interaction, as The Minister in Unearthed. The audience became enrapt with the sly twist curling out from the undergrowth of Berentson’s Rot to Bloom, and squirmed as bone crunched under the repeated blows of a metal bat in Sung’s Free Will. All around, it was a stellar night attended by a healthy and committed audience – including CMS’s own Professor Golden Owens. It was the kind of night that makes any graduating CMS senior proud to call these students their peers. This is what storytelling is all about. Should you find another invitation to a screening of student screenplays from CMS 470 lying in your inbox or lingering on the lips of a friend, take it. You surely won’t regret it. And for those who wished to have sat in the audience at West of Lenin last night, fret not, for you have a showcase of student docs to look forward to, and if the work produced here is any indication, you’ll not want to miss that one either. All opinions shared here reflect the views of the author and should in no way be construed as the sentiments of the department – truly, these are my original words.
Maurice Parker