The season of theatre

Drury’s incredible theatre department is producing four one-act plays this upcoming spring. These plays have never been produced, never seen the light of the stage and were all winners of Drury’s 2017 and 2019 One-Act Play open contests.

According to the Drury Theatre Season web page, the winners of these competitions were Family Style written by Larry J. Linda, 2917 by Keith Sanders, Crossed by Cary Pepper, and Gentle Crazy by Don Gordon.

Drury’s show season typically consists of a play in the spring and followed by a musical of some sort in the fall semester. Last year, the department put on a professor-directed play and two medieval farce one-acts. This year, these four one-acts will be performed during the spring semester, followed by the student-directed production of the musical, Ordinary Days. The season will be concluded with Charlotte’s Web and Broadway Cabaret.

Meeting the cast and crew

The first play to be performed will be Crossed which is directed by Jacob Maher with Jordan Mouser as the lead. Second will be 2917, directed by Dylan Klein. Claire Allen will help lead the cast. Family Style is directed by Angela Gensman and led by Micah Textor. Gentle Crazy is led by Brynn Tucker and Justice Banks and directed by Amalia Powell.

Powell explained her experience directing Gentle Crazy. She stated it has “been a rewarding experience since I’ve never been on this side of things. I’ve been an actor and a designer.” She was taken aback by the amount of collaboration and organization that goes into a production, especially with four different casts. She continued, “it’s given me a new perspective of everything that goes into a production.”

Photo via unsplash.com

Powell, who is a senior this year and has been a shop supervisor for three years, explained she is intensely grateful for the opportunity she’s had to direct her four-person cast.

“There’s nothing like having that ‘breakthrough moment’ with your cast. You get to watch these actors create characters. It’s just crazy to be the one to bring a play to life,” she says.

Powell also mentioned that Blythe Hopper is the production manager who has been overseeing all four shows while also stepping in as stage manager for 2917.

Powell commented on Hopper stating, “they make sure studio space is utilized effectively and keep track of who is using rehearsal space when. It’s been so helpful to the directors to know that Blythe is taking care of things like that.” When I ask her to give a brief description of her play she calls it “a fateful encounter brought on by car trouble leads to discovery and connection.”

The plays will be performed at Sunderland Studio Theatre from Thursday, Feb. 26 to Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m., as well as Saturday, Feb. 29 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The theatre is located in O’Bannon Hall and is an intimate black box theatre with seating for 60-100 people. Make sure to stop by and show support for your fellow classmates!

Written by Cheyenne Heavener.