The one-act play explores the relationships and hidden secrets of a snooty, uptight Connecticut family of five, and what happens when a typically trite, and benign dinner conversation is thrown into chaos by a mother’s announcement that the family’s eldest son, and black sheep, will be moving back home. Grace and civility are carelessly tossed aside, as father, mother and three sons are forced to confront issues they had been ignoring for years.

What ensues is hilariously bitter back and forth chiding, where even a harmless game of “apples to apples” quickly degenerates into a pecking party.

“They are all pulling in different directions. They accuse each other. Yell at each other. Explode at each other, and more often than not, they are totally wrong,” says Brett of the family.

Suburbia is a witty, darkly funny play flavored with dashes of skepticism and cynicism. It comes together to paint a very accessible portrait paralleling that of real middle class family life, showing in the end that family members are faced with the choice to either change, or continue to drift hopelessly apart from each other.

“In life, things that start out funny slowly undergo this switch into serious. People are changed in this play. Each of the five characters will be different by the end of the hour. This is what happens in real life”, Epstein says of this transition.

Half way through the work-shopping of Suburbia earlier this year at Providence College, Brett and his production assistants found themselves scrambling to find additional chairs for the over-crowded auditorium.

Even as a freshman at Providence College, Brett consistently sold out the campus’s theater space with the short plays he had written. He hasn’t put the pen down since.

Earlier this summer, Brett also directed a production of his earlier play, I Loved Sam Stone, in Cranston, RI. The play, reviewed positively by Rhode Island’s Motif Magazine, takes a look at how quickly relationships can change when the feelings of a young college student toward his closest female friend take a turn away from the platonic, and toward the romantic. Similar to Suburbia, Sam Stone deals thematically with the shift and decay of relationships, and breakdowns in communication.

“With a good title, a story with substance, and a provocative one sentence summary, people will come to see theater,” Brett says. “Theater is more accessible than anything else in my opinion, for writers, actors, and audience alike.”

For more information about the play, and rehearsal and show times, visit www.highlaneclub.com

“I like choosing an orderly, rational path in order to accomplish a goal, but I don’t mind getting messy in the process.” -Amy Fernald

This Sharpie loving artist finds inspiration in the expression of the human figure. She lets her free-flowing imagination take over her works of art. Amy Fernald was aware of her passion at a young age humorously stating, “I was a tortured artist at 7 years old.” Amy is partial to working with mediums that require a tad more confidence, sharing, “the thing we struggle with the most results in some of our most gratifying work.”

Throughout the interview it became clear that there is a strong connection between Amy and her art. When asked who she admired most, she brought up her father, the engineer. She admired his dedication, hard work, and rational behavior. Amy was unaware at the moment, but she exemplified to me the very same characteristics. She showed me her disciplined approach to artwork by maintaining a schedule as well as overcoming adversity once up against a challenge not necessarily in her scope of interest.

Her idealistic view of reality lends itself to the vivid embellishment of her works. Amy’s pieces not only draw you in, but also create their own world for viewers to poke around in. Throughout her journey as an artist, Amy divulged to me that one of her dream jobs would be to get into character development. She shared, “I love the balance between collaborating with a team for direction, while at the same time sketching like crazy at my own desk and seeing what I could do.” Whether it is a trip to Italy or a drive home from class, Amy derives inspiration directly from her environment.

This artist is grounded and stays true to her perspective, “I think there are aspects to my personality that would suffer if I didn’t create work.” Amy’s art is her voice. She not only is involved with her own purpose and goals but she also believes, “the arts can have more of a major role in society again if there is a newfound interest.” To do this one must put their art out there. Amy Fernald understands, “If you’re creating art in a bubble, how is your work going to be relevant?” Amy is making a footprint in the world of art. She is happy to be part of a generation that has had diverse mediums available to them from a young age, including the internet as well as digital software. She hopes to close the gap between various mediums and their perception.

Website: www.amyfernald.com