By Brandon Clark Assistant Arts Editor
A camping trip gone bad, friends struggling to see something in each other, hallucinations fabricated from your imagination alone—it’s not Sasquatch; it’s the epic and potentially hilarious “Farm House Syndicate.”
This original comedic tale is coming to the college this fall and will have its very first showing October 7. This story is brought to us by Bellevue’s very own Stan Marsh. A student here for over two years, he’s a man that shows creativity at its finest.
I was able to interview Marsh at Stop Gap studio about his up coming play, Farm House Syndicate. He wrote the play last year and after two read-throughs from the theatre department, his play was approved.
Curious about what the title had to do with the play, I asked Mash. Though I didn’t expect the answer I received.
“The ‘Farm House Syndicate.’ It’s about four band members that have been playing together for six months, but they don’t really connect very well together and they don’t really work as a band. So they decide that a camping trip would help them get to know one another. Though on the trip they discover an abandoned farmhouse, or what they thought was abandoned. Turns out to be a Russian Mafia ‘coke’ house. They find drugs and of course, mafia members,” said Marsh.
Intense as it seems at this point, there is a comedic side to this whole camping trip gone wrong.
“The mafia captures two of them while the others escape. While escaping one of them eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or ‘shroomwich.’ Then one band member, who ate the sandwich, is guided by the ‘spirit of the forest’ or ‘Herbert.’ And really it’s not different from any heroic tale of friendship and bonding over drugs and Russian people.”
At this point holding in my laughter was not possible. Though no advocation of illegal drug use is in the play, it still sounds quite hilarious.
One question did come to mind as Marsh described the premise of the play. How did he come up with this idea? The story is just as eerie as the first half of the play.
“I went on a camping trip six years ago and we were having fun and drinking. While out, we found an abandoned farmhouse. There was one light on, in the attic and underneath it was one run down chair with rope around it. At that point my friends and I thought it was a little weird. There was a bunch of broken glass everywhere. We then left the place and since then I was just thinking ‘What could be or happened in that farmhouse?’ So that became the inspiration for the play.”
That was six years ago. Marsh has had other things to occupy his time. He’s written a few 10 minute plays that have been performed here at the college. With more to come in the future, “I’ll be writing two 10 minute plays this year, which will be performed this December,” said Marsh.
Besides writing, Marsh also happens to be a DJ, having a mixed taste of music. His music also seems to be heavily incorporated into his play as well. “I’m recording music for the play, interlude music, and the sound design will be all my own music,” said Marsh, while playing air guitar.
With the music and story line incorporated into Farm House Syndicate, this is turning into Stan Marsh’s best work.
