The typical problems a college freshman faces. A murder mystery that taps into the minds of historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. The ups and downs of high school relationships.

These seemingly unrelated situations have little in common – except that they are all original plot lines written by Iowa State students. They combine to create “I’ve Got Something To Say Too,” the second production of its kind by the Iowa State Theatre Department.

“The plays are fresh. The material is new,” playwright Andrew Nease said. “It isn’t written by collectively famous playwrights.”

“I’ve Got Something To Say Too” is a collection of three works by student playwrights and one dance/movement piece by a performing arts major.

“On the Eve of Romance”

Nease is the author of “On the Eve of Romance.” The story is set on a high school stage. It displays the interaction of three high school actors and their director one day before the opening of their school play.

“The lead female and the lead male are falling in love, despite her involvement with another member of the cast,” Nease said. “That’s the low-context analysis. The high context analysis involves themes of resolution, masks and performances and melodrama.”

Performing the part of the wise-cracking boyfriend in the play is Jon Connealy, freshman in performing arts.

“I play Rich . who often tries too hard,” Connealy said. “My purpose is to cause conflict for the other characters while dealing with my own personal conflicts, such as insecurity.”

Nease said he is very satisfied with the way Connealy and the other actors and actresses have interpreted and performed his script.

“`On the Eve of Romance’ would have stayed comfortably in the memory chips of my computer, but now the theater department is breathing life into the text,” he said. “Characters in a story, in a song, in a script are usually dead; they are nothing and no one until the process of communication and perception brings them to life.”

“Mental Anchovies”

“This play was inspired by a period of self-doubt and conflict that I endured a few years back,” said playwright Dan Heck. “I found myself analyzing how different parts of my thinking were headed in different directions . I found that this kind of mental processing lent itself to a more literal, almost metaphysical interpretation quite well, so I turned it into story.”

The portrayal centers around the character of Dan, a college freshman who struggles with everything from academic difficulties to an “on-the-rocks relationship” with his girlfriend, Heck said.

“He gets down on himself easily and yet he’s too stubborn to go get help when he needs it,” he explained.

As the play continues, a variety of people try to help Dan with his problems, and whether he accepts their advice is the key to the story.

“There are issues . that I think every college student can relate to. Everybody has problems, and not everybody knows how to deal with them,” Ryan Swartz, who plays Dan, said.

“I think Dan Heck’s script is very honest and open and confronting about these issues, and he handles them with a light, comic tone that makes the understanding of the play extremely accessible to everyone,” Swartz, a junior in English, added.

“Lament”

This piece differs from the others in that it is a movement-theater piece, which means it combines dance with acting, said writer and choreographer Megan Moore.

“Lament” chronicles the journey of a young woman through five stages of grieving after losing her best friend.

“She goes through the stages of grieving, starting with the anger that she feels that her best friend had to die, to denying that her friend’s death happened, to bargaining with herself and God, to falling into severe depression, to finally accepting that everyone must die, and that even though her friend is no longer with her physically, she will always be with her in spirit, watching over her,” said Moore, a sophomore in performing arts.

In addition to forming the piece, Moore also stars as the grieving young woman. Each of the various emotions she encounters along her path are personified by different actors and dancers.

“It is both scary and liberating at the same time,” Moore said of performing her emotional creation in front of an audience. “Most of my choreography has been strictly dance, so it was very interesting to mix the two mediums.”

“Murder on the Mountain”

This performance will add a little bit of comic relief to the “I’ve Got Something To Say Too” line-up.

“Bejamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Jane Adams, Edward Wilson, and Carl Young are all famous scientists,” playwright Michael Dahlstrom said. “Every year they meet in an isolated cabin in the mountains to discuss the ills of society and how to improve the world.”

Then comes the twist.

“This time, after the first day, Jane Adams is murdered,” Dahlstrom explained. “And so starts the wacky, crazy, nutty, and interestingly crazy plot, because all the famous scientists have to figure out which one is the killer.”

If anything, Dahlstrom said, students should come watch it because “it will be better than sitting on a 70s-style couch watching reruns of `The Golden Girls’ and eating stale chips from last weekend.”

All four of these pieces will come together on the Fisher Theatre stage at the Iowa State Center beginning today. “I’ve Got Something To Say To Say Too” will be presented Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are also scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets cost $10 for the general public, $9 for senior citizens, and $4.50 for students. They can be purchased at the Iowa State Center Ticket Office and all Ticketmaster outlets.

The typical problems a college freshman faces. A murder mystery that taps into the minds of historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. The ups and downs of high school relationships.

These seemingly unrelated situations have little in common – except that they are all original plot lines written by Iowa State students. They combine to create “I’ve Got Something To Say Too,” the second production of its kind by the Iowa State Theatre Department.

“The plays are fresh. The material is new,” playwright Andrew Nease said. “It isn’t written by collectively famous playwrights.”

“I’ve Got Something To Say Too” is a collection of three works by student playwrights and one dance/movement piece by a performing arts major.

“On the Eve of Romance”

Nease is the author of “On the Eve of Romance.” The story is set on a high school stage. It displays the interaction of three high school actors and their director one day before the opening of their school play.

“The lead female and the lead male are falling in love, despite her involvement with another member of the cast,” Nease said. “That’s the low-context analysis. The high context analysis involves themes of resolution, masks and performances and melodrama.”

Performing the part of the wise-cracking boyfriend in the play is Jon Connealy, freshman in performing arts.

“I play Rich . who often tries too hard,” Connealy said. “My purpose is to cause conflict for the other characters while dealing with my own personal conflicts, such as insecurity.”

Nease said he is very satisfied with the way Connealy and the other actors and actresses have interpreted and performed his script.

“`On the Eve of Romance’ would have stayed comfortably in the memory chips of my computer, but now the theater department is breathing life into the text,” he said. “Characters in a story, in a song, in a script are usually dead; they are nothing and no one until the process of communication and perception brings them to life.”

“Mental Anchovies”

“This play was inspired by a period of self-doubt and conflict that I endured a few years back,” said playwright Dan Heck. “I found myself analyzing how different parts of my thinking were headed in different directions . I found that this kind of mental processing lent itself to a more literal, almost metaphysical interpretation quite well, so I turned it into story.”

The portrayal centers around the character of Dan, a college freshman who struggles with everything from academic difficulties to an “on-the-rocks relationship” with his girlfriend, Heck said.

“He gets down on himself easily and yet he’s too stubborn to go get help when he needs it,” he explained.

As the play continues, a variety of people try to help Dan with his problems, and whether he accepts their advice is the key to the story.

“There are issues . that I think every college student can relate to. Everybody has problems, and not everybody knows how to deal with them,” Ryan Swartz, who plays Dan, said.

“I think Dan Heck’s script is very honest and open and confronting about these issues, and he handles them with a light, comic tone that makes the understanding of the play extremely accessible to everyone,” Swartz, a junior in English, added.

“Lament”

This piece differs from the others in that it is a movement-theater piece, which means it combines dance with acting, said writer and choreographer Megan Moore.

“Lament” chronicles the journey of a young woman through five stages of grieving after losing her best friend.

“She goes through the stages of grieving, starting with the anger that she feels that her best friend had to die, to denying that her friend’s death happened, to bargaining with herself and God, to falling into severe depression, to finally accepting that everyone must die, and that even though her friend is no longer with her physically, she will always be with her in spirit, watching over her,” said Moore, a sophomore in performing arts.

In addition to forming the piece, Moore also stars as the grieving young woman. Each of the various emotions she encounters along her path are personified by different actors and dancers.

“It is both scary and liberating at the same time,” Moore said of performing her emotional creation in front of an audience. “Most of my choreography has been strictly dance, so it was very interesting to mix the two mediums.”

“Murder on the Mountain”

This performance will add a little bit of comic relief to the “I’ve Got Something To Say Too” line-up.

“Bejamin Franklin, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Jane Adams, Edward Wilson, and Carl Young are all famous scientists,” playwright Michael Dahlstrom said. “Every year they meet in an isolated cabin in the mountains to discuss the ills of society and how to improve the world.”

Then comes the twist.

“This time, after the first day, Jane Adams is murdered,” Dahlstrom explained. “And so starts the wacky, crazy, nutty, and interestingly crazy plot, because all the famous scientists have to figure out which one is the killer.”

If anything, Dahlstrom said, students should come watch it because “it will be better than sitting on a 70s-style couch watching reruns of `The Golden Girls’ and eating stale chips from last weekend.”

All four of these pieces will come together on the Fisher Theatre stage at the Iowa State Center beginning today. “I’ve Got Something To Say To Say Too” will be presented Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are also scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Tickets cost $10 for the general public, $9 for senior citizens, and $4.50 for students. They can be purchased at the Iowa State Center Ticket Office and all Ticketmaster outlets.