Student directs play of ‘Wonders’

“Wonder of the World,” a student-directed comedy put on by the Georgia College Department of Theatre, has come to Milledgeville’s own Black Box theatre.

The play follows the storyline of a woman who leaves her husband in hopes of finding a more fulfilling life by completing the items on her bucket list. Along the way, she encounters some interesting characters who accompany her on various parts of her journey. Overall the play is comedy, but the audience doesn’t just walk away with just laughs.

“Its witty comments one after another, and they kind of come on top of each other, but at the same time, the crazy thing about it is that we play real people. We don’t go for the joke we go for this is their life and their life is really messed up. It’s funny and sad at the same time. If you really dig deep and see what’s going on in these peoples lives it’s kinds sad, but at the same time it’s really funny. The humor is just really outlandish.” said Benton Crawford, a rhetoric major who plays Captain Mike in the play.

“Wonder of the World” has a message that is nestled into the witty lines and funny characters that may be different for every person who sees it.

The play was directed by Erin Williams as her senior capstone. Williams is a theatre and English double major who has been preparing this play since choosing to direct

it in May 2010.

“This is my capstone, the culmination of all my work in theatre,” Williams said.

As one of the two theatre majors chosen to direct plays as their capstone—Nic Marrone directed “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead”—Williams was involved with all aspects of the show.

“Ultimately, I’m in charge of everything. I have the final say in anything that goes on,”Williams said. Although this is her first time directing a full length play, Williams is no stranger to theatre.

“I acted in ‘Steel Magnolias,’ and was the lighting director for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and ‘Dog Sees God.’ It’s cool to do all this other stuff and then that influences my directing and makes it stronger,” Williams said.

Despite having such wide experience in acting, Williams said that directing was her favorite, and not just because she like being the boss.

“It isn’t so much telling people what to do, as getting people to do what I see in my head. To create what I know would be awesome,” Williams said. The fact that it was a comedy is special in itself.

“The biggest difference is that it’s a comedy. We don’t do comedy here, at all,” Williams said.