FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

Most college freshmen busy themselves with trying to avoid the dreaded "freshman 15" while juggling an active social life with demanding classes. Claire Winkler wanted to add writing a play to the mix. She then decided to send the final product, a one-act play called "In a Single Moment," to the fifth annual One Act Festival by Stage Door Productions Inc.

According to festival director Charlotte Fields, Stage Door Productions received 393 entries. Of those entries, seven were chosen to be performed at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in downtown Fredericksburg.

'"In a Single Moment" is one of the seven.

"I've always wanted to submit a play," said Winkler, who is finishing up her freshman year at the University of Mary Washington. "But it was really hard. I've never written for an audience or for a deadline, but it was a great learning process."

The 20-minute one-act is about two 17-year-old strangers who meet at a subway station.

"It's how you can meet a stranger and think what you say to them is meaningless, when in reality it can be very important in the future," Winkler said.

But after she sent the play, she didn't think much about it.

"I didn't think anything of it because I didn't hear back right away. I knew there were a lot of playwrights, and I knew I was probably one of the youngest."

However, Fields said the judges do blind readings, so they don't know who the playwrights are, where they are from or how old they are.

Since the competition received so many entries, the reading process was lengthy.

"It takes hours and hours," Fields said.

She reads the plays first and eliminates ones with elaborate sets or extensive character lists.

"They may be wonderful plays, but unfortunately we're just not able to perform them in an evening of seven plays," she said.

If the play receives Fields' approval, it is then sent on to additional readers.

Winkler learned "In a Single Moment" was accepted in February.

"I was ecstatic," she said. "Nothing could top it."