Ever tried outwitting your teacher? The comedic cast of characters discovers the consequences in “The College Guide to Dealing with Dix,” written by senior Liz Kurtzman and staged this weekend at Heidelberg’s Gundlach Theatre.
The plot goes something like this: Professor Dix, who Kurtzman says bears no resemblance to any Heidelberg professor, is set to fail five students who are performing poorly in his class. The five devise schemes to try to outsmart him. “They decide to try to pass the class in any way but studying,” she says.
The athlete, the thespian, the fraternity flirt, the nerd and the overly involved student quickly learn that the dastardly Professor Dix has an answer to each of their schemes, which include a delicious dessert, sexual advances and a few seemingly illegal acts. They concede that their only option is to study – or is it?
Without revealing the ending, there is a twist that shifts the plot to the students’ favor.
Kurtzman began working on the play after taking a British humor class from English professor Dr. Ruth Wahlstrom. It’s based on the 17th century European “comedy of manners” style, a genre which satirizes the manners and morés of a certain class of people. The characters are described as shallow but very funny, the plot less important than the atmosphere. It occurred to her that “the style could easily fit into a college setting.”
“Most of the characters are based on a type instead of a specific person,” Kurtzman says. “The jokes could refer to people at Heidelberg – but also to any college.”
“The College Guide to Dealing with Dix” isn’t Kurtzman’s first foray into playwriting. Last year, the English writing and theatre minor directed a one-act play during the New Works Festival.
Still, the writing process was challenging. “I’ve never tried to write a comedy before. It’s a whole different ballgame,” she says, describing the first three drafts as “terrible.”
“The final version is a nothing like the original.”
Kurtzman credits student director Ben Jones and theatre professor Chris Tucci for their suggestions and support through the process, confirming for her that playwriting, unlike fiction writing, is “very much a collaborative endeavor.”