Typecasting & Truth-Seeking at Freehold’s Open House by Kelly Huffman

Little did I suspect that, before the Freehold Studio open house was over last Friday, I’d be cast in a mini-drama as an anxious woman arriving at a Starbucks for a first date.



Typecast again.

And hey, I’m not even an actor! This scene unfolded in Elizabeth Heffron’s half-hour playwriting teaser. (I can only guess what they were cooking up over in the Acting for the Camera class.)

Props to Ms. Heffron for sharp instincts and for getting us Shakespeare wannabes up on our feet and delving into a few lines of “dummy” dialogue right off the bat:

A: Hey.
B: Hey.
A: You’re late.
B: I know. I got held up.

Mother and curfew-breaking kid? Two co-workers on a first date? You decide.

You, nascent writer/actor/poet, show us the truth.

That’s how Freehold director Robin Lynn-Smith put it in her opening remarks. Her words rang like a clear call to arms, rising above the stream of emails, Facebook updates and iPod shuffles that dominate the daily landscape.

Seek and show the truth. And here’s a place—communal, fun, supportive, graced with some of the top theater and writing talent in the region—to learn how to do it.

What a privilege to spend a few hours sampling this rich smorgasbord of poetry, acting, writing and performance. And all for the cost of an email. Thanks, Freehold. I’ll be back.



If you want to know more about Freehold, check out our website: http://www.freeholdtheatre.org Winter class registration will be open the week of Thanksgiving.