LW East grad writes, directs, produces third play
Pictured is the promotional art for Anmarie D’Ortenzio’s “The Perception of Red.” It was the third play that D’Ortenzio — a Lincoln-Way East Class of 2020 graduate — has written, directed and produced. PHOTO SUBMITTED
By Jon DePaolis
If one thing is certain about Anmarie D’Ortenzio’s future in the performing arts, it is this: If a task needs to get done, she will be the one to do it.
D’Ortenzio, 19, a Lincoln-Way East alumna, kept busy this summer by writing, directing and producing a play – her third foray into being a jack-of-all-trades production company.
Her latest production – “The Perception of Red” – was performed in late July, just a few weeks prior to when she began her first semester at the University of Iowa.
A one-person production company
D’Ortenzio’s passion for the performing arts began when she was just 4 years old. It started with her showing an interest in singing and musicals.
A love of writing, however, came later. Specifically, during her sophomore year at East, when she started writing plays.
The spark was lit during a conversation with her choir teacher about her desire to be a director in the future or perhaps produce something she created. The teacher encouraged her to pursue writing.
“That was the catalyst of it all,” D’Ortenzio said.
Since then, the Class of 2020 graduate has written about 20 plays and produced three.
“Most of my plays circle around something historical or something that is a current social issue,” D'Ortenzio said. “What I mostly do is try to find what is happening right now and find a similar situation that happened in history.”
An example is a play she worked on over the summer that delved into the illegal deportation of Mexican American immigrants during the Great Depression.
“Something similar has obviously been happening in our society with immigration and xenophobia,” she said.
By taking the material away from a more current lens and looking at the subject matter through a historical perspective, it allows the audience to view the situation more objectively, D'Ortenzio said.
D'Ortenzio serves as a one-person production company, taking on the roles of writer, director, producer, set and costume designer, venue organizer, rehearsal coordinator and choreographer.
You name it, she does it.
When she first produced one of her plays, it was intended to be just a live reading at her school. But when that space was not available, D'Ortenzio worked with the Frankfort Park District to use the organization’s Founders Center building in exchange for donating all the proceeds from the event to the Frankfort Township Food Pantry.
“Admission to my first two plays was a canned good,” she said. “We also raised overall with those first two plays almost $1,000 in cash for [the food pantry]. That was awesome that we got to give back.”
While the first play was held at the Founders Center, she changed venues for the second — having it at Lincoln-Way Central in New Lenox.
Dillon Ruzich (left) and Leyla Eames act out a scene of “The Perception of Red” — a play written, directed and produced by Lincoln-Way East graduate Anmarie D’Ortenzio (not pictured). PHOTO SUBMITTED
Debuting ‘The Perception of Red’
For D'Ortenzio’s most recent production, a new complication forced her to get creative. The coronavirus pandemic led to an inability to host the show indoors or have large gatherings of 50 or more people. In response, she bought a microphone system and set it up in the backyard of her family’s home so she could put on production outdoors.
The play — titled, “The Perception of Red” — was about a society separated by eye color. D'Ortenzio explained that the blue-eyed people were considered superior to the brown-eyed people.
“This is a huge allegory to racism,” she said. “My whole point of the play was to show that it is not necessarily skin color that divides us but [rather] culture that divides us.”
She said she wrote the play with her hometown in mind.
“Because I think that sometimes it is difficult for a small town to touch on racism when we don’t live in a huge metropolitan area that has big bustling things or where protests are happening,” she said.
D'Ortenzio said the play was written in about a week, with the production clocking in at about 75 minutes.
All the cast members were either current East students or alumni, ranging in age from 16 to 21. Rehearsals began on July 1, and the production opened on July 25.
In total, there were three performances — one on July 25 and two on July 26.
To stick to the guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, D’Ortenzio stuck to a capacity of 30 people at each of the performances. Attendees were spaced 6 feet apart.
She said the reception from those who attended was “extremely positive and extremely thoughtful.”
“At the end of the show, the main character — a brown-eyed person — accidentally is murdered by a blue-eyed person,” D’Ortenzio said. “All of the rest of the characters come out with blood on their hands. They pull the blood across their faces, and it ends with the audience staring at these people who have blood on their faces.”
She said the point of the play is to show that when a racially motivated murder happens in a community, everyone shares responsibility.
“We all are responsible for that, whether or not we realize it,” D’Ortenzio said.
The next step
This fall, D’Ortenzio is attending the University of Iowa and double majoring in vocal performance and theatre arts.
She also already has her next production lined up when she returns home.
“One of my friends wrote a musical, and I wrote the book and lyrics for it,” D’Ortenzio said.
When you are as prolific a creator as D’Ortenzio, there is no time for curtain calls.