Alumnae's Play Takes the Stage

A pair of Manolo Blahnik stilettos has a new leading role. The shoe guru's design has stepped into Jen Roberts's, '07, Boeto. Boeto, a one-act play named after the Manolo Blahnik strappy sling back, is scheduled for a professional staged reading this fall at the Playwrights Center of San Francisco.

And what is the first thing a playwright says when the e-mail announcing the good news hits her inbox? "Profanity. Happy profanity. Then, I cried," Roberts said.

Boeto is a powerful story of a young, married couple whose marriage is one of love and disconnection. Meg and Wyatt, by all appearances, live a comfortable life in a stylish loft in San Francisco, but things aren't always what they seem. As Meg prepares for a work party, Wyatt prepares to surprise her with plans that will move their relationship, he hopes, to a new level, but he has forgotten to take something into consideration: Meg.

Roberts said the idea for Boeto came from a "smart ass" response in Professor Abhijat Joshi's playwriting class during a discussion about conflicts. "When it was my turn, I called out that conflict would be a woman who couldn't find her shoe and she had a party to go to," Roberts said. "To my surprise, Professor Joshi was excited about the idea and told me to ‘go with it'."

While there are countless missing shoes, only an expensive, misplaced heel could arouse so much drama. "When I began to play with the idea of the missing shoe and the dramatic tension it would provide, I got more excited," Roberts said. "Then, I began looking up shoes online. When I saw the Boeto design by Manolo Blahnik, I knew it was the shoe."

Roberts said the staging of Boeto is designed to assist her with any rewrites, if any, and to pique the interest of producers and companies to consider a full production, she plans to expand the play, though still keeping it to one act. "There are many issues I want to explore in the play and I have conflicts with my characters right now," Roberts said. "I let some things my characters do slide, things that shouldn't be ignored."

Roberts graduated from Otterbein in 2007 with a double major in English and Women's Studies. She is currently pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at the California College of Arts, training for a half marathon, and "working on too many writing projects at once," she said.