2008 Woodie Awards
Theatrical conclusion
Students direct final exams
Shari Beardsley
Issue date: 12/7/06 Section: Lifestyles
- Page 1 of 1
"Take house to half! Is that right?" These were common phrases heard Monday while directing students rehearsed their productions for their Dec. 5 performance, which served as their final for their fundamentals of directing class.
"This production comes together very quickly at the end of the semester because we have been working on 'Sweeney Todd' for so long," Doral "Skip" Mancini, drama instructor, said. "They have been taking all the classroom exercises and turning it into a script and putting it on to the stage, but we really have been only working on it for about two weeks even less than that really."
Student directors have prepared for their productions since the start of the semester.
"In class we started with the history of directing," Kiley Luckett, Garden City, said. "We started with the fundamentals of what is a director first. Then our productions were an accumulation of our notes and lectures for our final."
The student directors' final consisted of a compilation of their 26-line Chekovian scenes.
"I knew who I wanted [to cast] for my scene," Brandon Proffitt, Garden City, said. "It was hard to get them into the frame of mind that their performance basically is part of the decision of my final grade. Being an actor I knew the shoes they had to fill and what they were coming at."
Tamber Weber, Cimarron, Kan., said acting in the student-directing showcase was interesting.
"It is different because you have to ask them a lot of questions when Skip just tells you where to go and what to do," Weber said. "It's interesting working with your peers and people your own age though. You know when they're your director you immediately give them respect and ask them questions and follow what they say because that's they're role and your job is to act."
Proffitt said being an actor himself eased the stress of directing his own show.
"I knew in my mind what I wanted them to do," Proffitt said. "It definitely helped prepare me and the role of a director would have been harder if I hadn't first been an actor."
Luckett said the experience she gained in this class changed how she views theatrical productions.
"At first I would watch a scene and said the acting was good or her voice was pretty," Luckett said. " Now I see when they use a certain lighting in one place so not to see something or how they used that color of shirt to contrast with something else and changing the levels to help change your focus of an object."
Mancini, who has directed most of her life, said this class took on a special meaning for her.
"The art of production is very important because coordination is the core of the production," Mancini said. "The person directing basically puts his or her imprint on the production."
"This production comes together very quickly at the end of the semester because we have been working on 'Sweeney Todd' for so long," Doral "Skip" Mancini, drama instructor, said. "They have been taking all the classroom exercises and turning it into a script and putting it on to the stage, but we really have been only working on it for about two weeks even less than that really."
Student directors have prepared for their productions since the start of the semester.
"In class we started with the history of directing," Kiley Luckett, Garden City, said. "We started with the fundamentals of what is a director first. Then our productions were an accumulation of our notes and lectures for our final."
The student directors' final consisted of a compilation of their 26-line Chekovian scenes.
"I knew who I wanted [to cast] for my scene," Brandon Proffitt, Garden City, said. "It was hard to get them into the frame of mind that their performance basically is part of the decision of my final grade. Being an actor I knew the shoes they had to fill and what they were coming at."
Tamber Weber, Cimarron, Kan., said acting in the student-directing showcase was interesting.
"It is different because you have to ask them a lot of questions when Skip just tells you where to go and what to do," Weber said. "It's interesting working with your peers and people your own age though. You know when they're your director you immediately give them respect and ask them questions and follow what they say because that's they're role and your job is to act."
Proffitt said being an actor himself eased the stress of directing his own show.
"I knew in my mind what I wanted them to do," Proffitt said. "It definitely helped prepare me and the role of a director would have been harder if I hadn't first been an actor."
Luckett said the experience she gained in this class changed how she views theatrical productions.
"At first I would watch a scene and said the acting was good or her voice was pretty," Luckett said. " Now I see when they use a certain lighting in one place so not to see something or how they used that color of shirt to contrast with something else and changing the levels to help change your focus of an object."
Mancini, who has directed most of her life, said this class took on a special meaning for her.
"The art of production is very important because coordination is the core of the production," Mancini said. "The person directing basically puts his or her imprint on the production."
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