Senior Directs

Many rigorous rehearsals were held as everyone rushed around in an attempt to reach perfection in such a limited time for this fall’s senior directed plays. Senior directs were held from 5-9 p.m. on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 in the Black Box Theater, and there were four unique stories told.

 

“The Other Room” is the story of an autistic boy named Austin (Mason Buehner) and a girl he encounters named Lily (Kendall Hoefler). One side of the stage represented his brain while he interacted with Lily, with four actors playing the different parts of his brain. The other side of the stage showed their interaction, which didn’t always go smoothly.

 

“My favorite thing about the performance is the part of my play where things kind of go into a panic, and an alarm plays while red lights flash,” senior director Matthew Phelps said. “My cast has done an excellent job at orchestrating chaos onstage, and it makes for a captivating scene to watch as an audience member.”

 

“An Easy Heaven” explained the struggles of a teenage boy named Toby (Christopher Firch) with a recently deceased father and the toll it takes on him,his friends and family, but how his life drastically changes when an angel lands in his kitchen. He unsuspectedly handcuffs himself to the angel upsetting his mother (Alleigh Jackson), his uncle (Braden Beeson), and best friend Stephanie (Kailaho Wright). However, he begins to have doubts and decides to stay.

 

“My favorite scene is the ending, it is such a plot twist and very emotional, I cried every time I saw it,” senior director Caitie Sotny said. “We worked on that end scene at least 100 times, and it turned out better than expected.”

 

“All In Disguise” explained the chaos caused by a street performer and thief named Piporello (Brock Jones) and how he impacts the lives of the people he encounters. Despite all of his intentions being the wrong ones, he still ends up giving everyone the ending they deserve and leaves rewarded instead of unpunished.

 

‘”[Piporello] mixes everyone up and manipulates them, but somehow he manages to unite two lovers and create new love,” sophomore Hunter Bowden said. “The story is essentially all of the characters in their own worlds chasing after what Piporello has told each of them, unaware that others are passing right by them.”

 

“The Butleress” is about an audition for a play where four women Katherine (Ariana Kelly), Marjorie (Ashley Woo), Charlotte (Lauren Secrest) and Tamara (Anya Krishnaswamy) are reading the roles of the play, only to realize they are in a real life reenactment of the play, and a killer is after them.

 

“The actors really nailed everything and had me amazed every time, even though I was a director and saw it hundreds of times,” senior director Veronika Pitka said.

 

Sophomore Christopher Firch said each senior directed play was interesting in its own way and hopefully everyone got the pleasure to see them and appreciate the work that had been put in.

“All of the plays gave an amazing performance and did what theatre is designed to do, tell a story that evokes a unique emotion out of all who view it,” Hoefler said. “Being in a show and watching the other ones reminded me why I do what I do.”