The Standard
April 24, 2012

Acting students make directorial debut

By Kelsey Berry, The Standard

Many unseen challenges and hours of dedication go into putting on a one act production, let alone a production with several acts, but Missouri State University theater students are up to the challenge.

MSU's annual One Acts productions are a distinct collection of one-act plays directed and performed by students. Student directors from MSU's Acting II class had the opportunity to select a one-act play, ranging in length from 10 to 30 minutes.

The auditions were held Feb. 25 and were open to all students and members of the community. Rehearsals commenced immediately after the roles were chosen and students rehearsed several times a week, depending on the length of the play and the number of actors or actresses involved.

Senior acting major, Will Van Wig, director of a play entitled "A Short History of Weather," written by Jonathan Yukich, shared how much of a challenge scheduling rehearsals can sometimes be.

"We've been going three times a week; two one-hour rehearsals and one two-hour rehearsal," he said. "But every show has different needs. One of the longer shows has been having four-hour rehearsals but it's also because there is a larger cast so it's more about getting them all together for one chunk of time."

Van Wig's play has a cast of two performers while the longer play, "A Thousand Cranes," written by Kathryn Schultz Miller and directed by junior acting major Kelly Truax, consists of five different actors and actresses. Some students participating in One Acts are also involved in other shows as well, which leads to many late nights spent rehearsing.

"As theater students, we have such busy schedules as it is, so to try to schedule around that is hard," Van Wig explained.

Another challenge student directors face is the obstacle of instructing their peers. Senior theatre studies major Drew Diveley is directing a parody of the film noir detective genre, entitled "The Further Adventures of Dick Piston, Hotel Detective (but not much further) ÔMurder By Midnight' a 10-minute mystery," written by Jeff Goode.

Diveley described what it was like to direct a cast of his peers.

"It's really difficult and I'm nervous at times," Diveley said. "You always think, ÔI hope I'm not a jackass and these people actually like me afterwards!' It's been a little bit nerve-wracking but fun overall."

From the perspective of a student being directed, senior acting major Sarah Hohne says the process feels as though it is more of a group collaboration as opposed to being directed by a dictator.

"It's fun working with other students," she said. "You feel like you can share your ideas and then they have ideas, too. It's just a lot of working together."

Sophomore acting major Emily Feldt agreed with Hohne.

"It's not weird at all; it's kind of refreshing, actually," Feldt said. "They (student directors) are somebody that you can talk to and it's easy to talk to them. So if you're just not feeling something you can say that and then just try something else. That's what is really nice about it."

When these actresses and actors decide to audition and be a part of One Acts, they take on a lot of extra responsibilities. In comparison to a full-length play, One Acts do not require as much rehearsal time, but demand participants do a great amount of work on their own.

"You meet once or twice a week or whatever your director wants, but in the meantime you also need to be doing your own work," Hohne said. "You don't have to, but you can tell in a performance who has done their work and who hasn't and that's how it's going to be in the real world. It's nice to have something like this to push yourself."

To prepare for her role in "This Property is Condemned" by Tennessee Williams, Hohne had to research the dialect that was used in Mississippi during the 1940s, which is the setting of the play.

To correctly speak the dialect, Hohne watched the 2011 drama "The Help" and borrowed a few CDs and a book from her roommates who are currently enrolled in a dialect class.

Associate Professor of Theatre and Dance Carol Maples teaches the Acting II class in which the student directors get the chance to direct their own play.

"This is what I would call one of the most authentic projects a student can have," Maples said. "This is not just theory or reading about it or doing a little scene in class, but they go out and actually do it on their own."