Volume 38, Issue 12. Today is
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Volume 38, Issue 12. Today is
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Students take directing reigns
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| Amber Davidson/FOR THE MESA LEGEND |
| MCC theater students plan their orginal productions. (Left to right) Jilian Jacobsen, Eric Holmes, Jessica Vining, Joel Cranson and Angela Tossing. Three student plays will open this month at the Theatre Outback’s Green Room. |
In 1997, with much encouragement from his high school theater teacher, Cranson wrote and performed his play, "The Understudy."
"It is great to have someone who is open to your ideas and who will allow you to experiment," said Cranson, an MCC theater major.
Now, four years later and with some minor dialogue changes he is bringing his play to MCC.
Eric Holmes, an MCC theater student, who wrote the comedy "Midnight at the Café Terrace" was inspired by the curiosity of one question: "what would God and Satan say to one another if they met at a bar?"
It took Holmes about a year to complete his play, which required extensive research of the Bible and books written by Milton.
Their plays were submitted, along with about three others, to MCC’s theater club, the Stagedoor Players.
Their responsibility was to read through the scripts and choose only three that would be performed on campus.
Cranson, Holmes and Edward Lilliock, who adapted "Gordon: Year One" for the stage, were the three playwrites chosen.
The writer’s next challenge was to choose a student who would direct their plays.
Cranson chose Jessica Vining, who is well known as a theater performer on campus.
"I was really nervous when Joel asked me to direct his play.," said Jessica Vining, a first-time director. "But more than anything I was afraid of looking stupid."
Vining admits directing isn’t as much work as she initially thought.
After the directors were selected, they got together and held a major audition for all three shows.
After three days of disagreeing, deliberating and a lot of bargaining among the directors, the casts were formed.
"It was almost like trading baseball cards," said Cranson. "Except the directors were trading actors."
The casts have been rehearsing about 12 hours a week.
"The most difficult thing I see is that we are all peers," said Vining. "There is so much collaboration, especially between the writer and director-there’s a thin line between who has the final say."
"Collaboration between the writer and director is the ideal," said Lyn Dutson, who is the Director of Theater Activities. "These kids have a tough road to hoe."
Chesney Snow, who will be directing "Midnight in the Café Terrace," and is also the managing director for Shakespeare Sedona, is excited for the April performance.
"Everyone is working really hard," said Snow. "The plays will be performed in the Green Room, which is very close and intimate. The reality on stage is right there, in your face."
The Director’s Showcase will run April 12-14 at 8 p.m. in Theatre Outback’s Green Room.
Tickets are $5. For more information, please call the theater box office at (480) 461-7170.
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