Two actors climb cautiously onto a wide structure jutting out from the wall and hanging over, like a makeshift balcony, an imaginary audience. They wander together for a minute, practicing an awkward dialogue perfectly matched by the uneasiness of their movements. To a casual observer, the space is nothing special, but once the figurative curtain lifts (this space doesn't have a real one), the room, located in the Lena and Joseph Gluck Building in upper Usdan, turns into an avant-garde performance space.The room will house the upcoming production of Charles Mee's A Summer Evening in Des Moines, directed by Katie Nadworny '09.

The newly formed Free Play Theater Cooperative, which is presenting the work along with two other productions this semester, is responsible for the unusual location. The student-run theater company is the brainchild of Josh Mervis '08, its artistic director, and Brian Paternostro '07, its managing director. The two friends, both active participants in theater at Brandeis, were frustrated by the staggering time commitment of the theater department's Brandeis Theater Company and the less professional quality of the Undergraduate Theater Collective, which includes five troupes.

"We thought that Brandeis students deserved to have a true alternative," Mervis said, "which would mean they could do productions on the high-quality level of the department while still maintaining the flexible and normal life schedule of the UTC."

This alternative became the FPTC, organized by Mervis and Paternostro with the help of Prof. Eric Hill, the chair of Theater Arts, and countless other supporters within that department, its graduate program and the undergraduate community.

The flexible scheduling of rehearsals and performances is a change for students who want to be involved in professional-quality theater without a heavy time commitment. Mervis and Paternostro, however, want the FPTC to offer more than the typical campus theater group: They want to expose the community to several different kinds of theater experiences which they feel are lacking on campus.

"A lot of the works that we would want to do are more controversial than the BTC's," Mervis said. "We hope to bring in the types of shows that other people are afraid to do . they don't want to deal with the subject matter, or they don't want to deal with the idea of not making their money back."

Free of the burden to break even or make a profit from productions, the FPTC intends to choose shows that will address important issues or expose students to atypical theater experiences.

"We want people to think," Mervis said.

Mervis said he hopes to work with Jamele Adams, the assistant dean of student life in support of diversity, and the Intercultural Center (which Adams oversees) to produce one play each semester that promotes diversity or highlights an issue they find important.

"I will not shut down a show because someone disagrees with it," Mervis said. "An open forum does not mean that you can say, 'I disagree with it, let's shut it down.' It means, 'I disagree with it, but I acknowledge that . if I want to be able to present my ideas, then I have to listen.'"

Later this semester, the FPTC will present The Black Eyed by Betty Shamieh, directed by Jennie El-Far '07. The show is about four Arab women who meet in the afterlife and struggle to come to terms with their lives and their choices. It is the first of many potentially controversial plays that Mervis hopes to produce as the FPTC grows.

The FPTC hopes to use not only the Shapiro Theater, which is often used by the UTC, but also unconventional venues like Gluck, and the more professional stages in the Spingold Theater Center. The FPTC's production of Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years, directed by Justin Becker '09, will be the first undergraduate production ever to go up in Spingold, a personal goal of Mervis'.

Mervis hopes the FPTC will become a part of the Brandeis Theater Company eventually, and Leslie Chiu, BTC's production manager, said that anything's possible. "We're definitely interested in increasing undergraduate experience in the department . so [the BTC and the FPTC] both have the same goal." Chiu said that although the department's space is limited, they are working to make sure that Spingold's facilities are available for an FPTC production once a semester.

Mervis hopes to produce many student-written works, as well as hosting round-table discussions of scripts in progress. The FPTC is also eagerly recruiting first-years, both to utilize their talents and, as Mervis puts it, to "ensure that we'll stay alive." This outreach includes plans for a musical review and freshman showcase coordinated by Jenny Paul '07.

The FPTC's first three shows promise to be thought-provoking, and should prove a strong inaugural semester. Dates have not yet been set for The Black Eyed and Summer Evening in Des Moines, but The Last Five Years will run the first weekend of December.

For more information about the Free Play Theater Cooperative, e-mail Josh Mervis '08 at jmervis@brandeis.edu.