Moving to the lyrics of ‘Fever’ by Peggy Lee, three dancers retrace their steps in a tiny studio where inner passion and rhythmic motion find a common pulse.

Their furry leg warmers and black heels scream sexy. Making love to a mirror on the wall, they mesmerize an invisible audience with their mysterious, sensual poise.

Up & Running Productions, the theater company that brought ‘Smokey Joe’s Caf’ and ‘Tick, Tick… Boom’ to the Syracuse University campus, hopes to rouse student audiences once again at Syracuse Stage.

As preparations come to an end for the New Works Festival, the production company’s second annual show, SU’s Up & Running Productions is ready to roll back the curtain.

This year, the company will perform two short plays – ‘Ghost Writer’s Requiem’ and ‘The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber’ – and a dance medley called ‘Silent All These Years.’

‘I am totally ready for this show to open,’ said Allen Babcock, a senior design major and the artistic director of the New Works Festival. ‘I think we’re all in a very good place.’

The spring festival is a continuation of last year’s New Works Festival, which was created in order to help budding student producers expose their pieces to critical audiences. Each show, which has been in rehearsal since Spring Break, will end with a ‘Talk Back’ session in which audience members will be able to contribute suggestions.

‘The performances create an outlet for edgy, non-traditional works for drama and non-drama students,’ Babcock said. ‘It gives people something different to watch.’

Although all three performances will take place under the same roof, the content and style of each piece is unique in many respects.

On Wednesday and Friday, viewers can catch ‘Ghost Writer’s Requiem,’ a play about personal isolation, love conflict and the struggle between a writer and his childhood ghost.

‘Imagine when your imaginary friend goes completely wrong,’ Babcock said. ‘That’s what ‘Writer’s Requiem’ is about.’

Requiem’s creator, Kevin Diamond, a junior acting major, says the one-act play includes not only humorous moments but also a twist ending.

‘The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber,’ a play directly adapted from the short story by Ernest Hemingway, can be seen on Thursday and Saturday night.

‘It’s basically the same story as ‘American Beauty’ – a guy overcomes his fears, has a few moments of enlightenment and then is killed tragically at the discovery of himself,’ said the play’s producer, Zach Phillips, a junior film major.

Following both plays throughout the festival will be the dance piece, ‘Silent All These Years,’ arranged by sophomore Lani Corson and junior Brittany Beauchamp. The performance ties together popular quotations, modern music and different styles of dance into one charged musical medley.

‘I chose a lot of lyrics from songs I find very moving,’ Beauchamp said. ‘And we tried to pick music the audience would recognize, so the beat was in them.’

Each participating producer hopes to use the opportunity to receive constructive feedback on their labors of love.

‘I just want to know if people think this is a project worth pursuing, worth getting people together and putting up a production,’ Phillips said.

Published on April 6, 2004 at 12:00 pm