May 7, 2014

By Nat Edson

The Directing II class productions kick off this week with two sets of performances. The premiere shows ran on Monday night, with more of the plays being performed on Wednesday. The last day of plays will be on Monday, May 12.

Each of these shows will represent a semester of work by the students in the class. Essentially a seminar, the students talked about the plays they were going to run, had

auditions, cast parts, and rehearsed during the course of the semester.

“It’s all completely student-run,” said Jim Butchart, the professor for the class. “All the

design, all the directing, all the students who are in it.”

A direct extension of their work in Directing I, a class with the same structure and 10-minute plays, Directing II’s performances run 30 minutes in length. The shows are in a thrust configuration, with the audience on three sides of the stage.

There are 13 students in the class, and their performances run the gamut of topics. Everything from “yuck yuck” comedies to some things a little stranger, such as one show about a mystical woman who addicted to injecting herself with beef juice will be performed on stage.

“You’ll see theatre you don’t usually see with our bigger productions,” Butchart said. “Students can have fun.”

One of the last steps on the productions was to run auditions and cast the actors in

their roles. Fortunately, auditions were enormously successful, said Katie Krueger, one of the students in the class.

“We saw a number of new faces with a lot of talent,” Krueger said. “We’d love to get even more new people to audition next fall.”

Not only were all of the roles cast, but the class actually ended up with more actors than available parts. Krueger told us it’s a wonderful problem to have as a director when you have too many good options from which to choose.

Those who weren’t cast are encouraged to audition again next semester. It’s entirely possible the new shows will have a role suited for them, Krueger said.

The class is presenting a wide variety of shows, Krueger said. Audience members could experience a light comedy about blind dating followed by a dark “tragicomedy” about obsession and cannibalism, then see a play with Sherlock Holmes.

“My play talks a lot about sadomasochism and power in relationships,” Krueger said. “There really is something for everyone.”

In addition to directing the one-act plays, each director picked another job to make rehearsals and performances run smoothly. Krueger chose to be in charge of publicity, making sure people knew about things like auditions and performances.

Four shows will be performed the first night, four more the second and five the last. At a half an hour per show, the pace will be fast. Krueger said since the plays are entirely student-produced (everything from acting and lights to costumes), it offers an opportunity to get a small taste of what theatre students do.

The performances run on May 5, 7 and 12. The shows begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Hicklin Studio Theatre. The performances are free and open to the public.