Final projects play out for live audience

Along with tests, projects and essays, final class presentations are common at GCSU this time of year. Today students in the theater department’s Directing II class will present their final class projects to an audience. The students have each chosen a scene for which they are responsible for directing as their final project.

The students have been preparing select 20-minute scenes since auditions were held in March.

Auditions were open to all students, not specific to theater majors. Destiny Andrews is a junior environmental science major. In exploring her theater minor she will be performing in “Laughter of the 23rd Floor,” directed by Caroline Horlacher.

In perfecting their scenes and ensuring a good grade on their final, the directors have to coordinate the actors, the lighting crew and the tech team. In preparation, the team for each scene has been meeting a couple times a week to rehearse.

Directors such as Erin Williams hope to see the fruits of their labor at “An Evening of Directed Scenes” in Max Noah Recital Hall at 7 p.m. Admission is free and the show is recommended for mature audiences.

Williams is directing a scene titled “The Little Flower of East Orange,” a play she described as a “search for grace” that she had read in the past that caught her eye.

“I knew I wanted to be a part of it at some point in my life,” said the junior theater and English double major.

Sophomore history and theater double major Jordan Hale plays Danny, a 30-year-old drug addict in “The Little Flower of East Orange.” Hale is also participating in a scene directed by Evan Fields titled “Angels in America.”"All of the directors have really different styles, it will be nice to see what comes out of it,” Hale said of the performance.

“The challenge of this assignment is that they must re-vision a script and add their own special touch whether it be gender-bending casting or re-thinking a classic text,” Karen Berman, the professor of the Directing II class says of the challenge the students face in directing a scene.

Other scenes prepared and directed by the class include “Metamorphoses” by Lauren Adel, “Orpheus” by Stacey Silverman, “Noises Off” by Caleigh Allen, “The Wizard of Oz” by Courtney Kelley, “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” by Dani Pratt and “Scenes of Christopher Durang” by Nic Marrone.

“I am very proud of the work of all the students in the class. This is a particularly talented and motivated group. All of the students have been very independent in their work on the scenes. Their directing work shows excellent growth. It is a varied group of scenes that should appeal to mature audiences,” said Berman.

Posted by Mandy Boddy on Apr 30 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry