School of Arts and Sciences Review Winter 2014 | Page 17

A Closer Look

S

“It was definitely a little more
pressure. You want to live up to
the playwright’s image.”

t. Bonaventure’s theater program presented one
of the first fully staged productions of young playwright Kathryn M. Coughlin’s play “More Than
Before” in September 2012.
Coughlin attended several rehearsals and production
Freddie Alvarez, ’14
meetings for the play, giving the cast and crew a unique
opportunity to work with a playwright.
“It was definitely a little more pressure,” said Freddie Alproduction.”
varez, who played the Boyfriend. “You want to live up to
Coughlin said that seeing St. Bonaventure’s play brought
the playwright’s image.”
to light some new aspects of the script that she had not
“More Than Before” featured an intimate cast of four — noticed during previous productions.
Alvarez, ’14, a theater and J/MC major; Emily West, ’13, a
“The cast found some moments of humor in the script
theater and J/MC major, as the Girl; Dr. Leigh Simone, asthat I hadn’t realized were there … The play is about findsistant professor of modern languages, as the Mom; and
ing yourself in a darker place than you could ever have
Tori Lanzillo, ’15, a theater and J/MC major, as the Dead
imagined, and what it means to explore that darkness and
Girl.
that pain,” said Coughlin. “Despite that being the play’s
“More Than Before” shows the Girl’s cycle of grief over
premise and central theme, the moments of levity allowed
the death of her friend, and its effect on her mom and
the audience to recharge and connect with both the heavy
boyfriend.
and the light.”
Dr. Ed. Simone, head of St. Bonaventure’s theater proAs she rewrites the script and submits it to dif