Issues common to college freshmen took center stage Thursday night at the Memorial Union in Tempe

Four students from the School of Theatre and Film in the Herberger College of the Arts performed in “(dis)Orientation” to a small but enthusiastic crowd of freshmen.

Tuesday, “dis(Orientation)” will move to West campus. The group will perform at the Downtown Phoenix campus on Friday. Both shows begin at 7:30 p.m.

Pamela Sterling, a faculty member of the Herberger College School of Theatre and Film since 1999, directed the show.

“It’s a group collaboration and we were commissioned by the deans of student life to put on a show for when you have a feeling of disorientation,” Sterling said.

The show began by talking about a typical first day at ASU and how it can be overwhelming. Some topics included using a Blue Book in classes, what to do about a feeling of culture shock, freshmen orientation, pamphlets on everything and roommate problems.

“Disorientation got me so confused, such stupid information, no one can use,” sang theater teaching assistant Jeremiah Neal, one of the actors, during a musical number.

The other three added in by singing, “Disorientation got me losing my mind. I don’t wanna be here.”

The theme of the night was confusion and how freshmen or even sophomores may feel lost or bewildered when coming to school their first couple of years.

“The differences make it hard,” said theater undergraduate Arielle Hill, who performed in the show.

After every scene, the performers talked about how to handle the situation that they just acted out.

The show ended on a bright note by discussing how any problems freshmen may encounter can be solved. At the end of the play, Sterling asked the audience to stand if they encountered certain problems.

The last two questions were if the audience was excited for their ASU experience and if they were willing to help with ideas for future shows. The entire audience stood up.

Sterling said she was proud of the actors, who were also the writers of the show.

“We are able to balance some very funny stuff with some very powerful messages,” she said. “I think one of the best examples of this may be the song, ‘He Gave Me Wine,’ which has a great catchy tune and starts off light and funny, but also explores what happens when people misjudge their tolerance level for alcohol and end up doing things they regret later.”

This was the performers’ fifth show this semester, Hill said, with four shows taking place in Tempe and one at the Polytechnic campus.

”Our hope is that this project will be an annual event,” Sterling said. “We want to get more students involved in performing and writing it, from all campuses and not just theater students.”

Reach the reporter at jillian.metz@asu.edu.