Every spring Mississippi State University students showcase a series of one-act plays that are directed and performed by students. The plays, directed by each of the 10 students of Jo Durst’s directing class, are all one-acts, most run under one hour and each is performed only once.
Senior education major April Jackson grabbed ahold of the position as director for “The Maker of Dreams” by Olyphant Down.
“As a first-time director, it has been very challenging. I didn’t realize how much time and energy it took to direct and how many different things went into it,” Jackson said.
“The Maker of Dreams” involves three characters: Pierrot, played by Charlie Murphey; Pierrette, played by Justina Hamil and the manufacturer, played by Wilson Boyd.
“It’s a story about love and people wanting to be loved. It makes you feel good, and that’s something audiences will take away from this performance,” Jackson said.
“The Gospel According to Billy” is written and directed by senior communications major Matthew Allen. The play is set in present-day Monterey, Calif. with two main characters, Billy Sanders played by Lindsey Smith and Mimi McDuffie played by Katie Witthauer.
The play originally started out as a short story that Allen wrote while touring the South Pacific. When he found out that he would be taking a directing class, he adapted the story into a script that would be more stage friendly.
“I’m the only director crazy enough to write and direct my own script,” Allen said. “I do that because I like being original. I’ve always admired people like Cameron Crowe and Quentin Tarantino because they not only direct their own movies but also write their own scripts, and that shows a lot of talent on their part.”
This will be Witthauer’s debut performance here at MSU.
“My character is not a people person, and she chews Billy out, and that’s not like me. I probably wouldn’t do that,” Witthauer said. “I do like being the bad girl though. I’d rather be the bad girl than the good girl.”
Melissa Fenwick, a senior from Kosciusko, is directing a one-act play titled “A Dead Man’s Apartment” by Edward Allan Baker.
Fenwick will graduate next year, but she doe not plan on putting down the books just yet.
“I plan to go to grad school in the future and focus on the performing part of theatre,” Fenwick said.
“A Dead Man’s Apartment” includes a cast of four actors: Thomas La Foe, Cristina Kinney, Erica Bumpers, and Jason Pannell.
“This play is about the lead character having an affair but not wanting to leave his wife,” Fenwick said, “so he leaves a message on his answering machine while he is with the woman he is having an affair with, that says ‘You’re a dead man.'”
The play’s use of comedy inspired Fenwick to pick this play.
“It made me laugh, and my cast crack up in every rehearsal,” Fenwick said.
Pamela Buhner, a fifth-year senior from Jackson, said she is enthusiastic about the one-act play that she is directing.
“Hidden In This Picture” by Aaron Sorkin is about four characters who are in Guam, filming a movie about war games. During their final shot, three cows walk into the shot and ruin it, leaving the characters to try and figure out how to make it work in the movie.
“I read a lot of scripts,” Buhner said. “This is the first one that I did not want to stop reading. I could see it taking place in my head, and I could not stop laughing,” Buhner said.
“Hidden In This Picture” has four actors: Christopher Tyer, Wilson Boyd, Christie Sumrall and Charlie Murphey.
Buhner said that after graduation this May, she wants to move to Dallas, which has a large theatre scene.
“I want to get on the ground floor and learn the business and then one day go into theatre management,” Buhner said.
James Eison, a junior from Southhaven, is directing a play called “Park Angel” by Isaac N. Perelson. The play is about a young man named Josh who has just lost both parents. His only living relative is his 15-year-old sister. This play takes the audience through a dream world, which Josh has created as a way to deal with death, which includes his romance with Lucetta, a make-believe woman in her 40s.
The actors include Matt Webb as Josh, Olivia Bounds as the sister, and Morgan Chandler as Lucetta.
“I read through about 15 to 20 plays before I found this one,” Eison said. “It spoke to me because it was a challenge, and I always welcome a challenge.”
While some of the student directors may be intimidated by Durst’s analytical eye, others find it beneficial to their education.
“It’s more educational to have the teacher critique,” La Foe, director of Alison Field’s “April,” said. “It’s easier because you get to see how the notes apply to the process.”
La Foe, who has frequently appeared onstage- most recently in Starkville Community Theatre’s “The Foreigner”- has already directed one show, a summer children’s musical version of “Stuart Little.”
“April,” a story of one character’s struggle to find commitment in her love relationships, is a 1994 American College Theater Festival short play award winner. and features some language and sexual situations and may be unsuitable for children.
The class is made of all types of theatre students, though; as Ynetta Tabb quickly (and with quite a bit of excitement) admitted, this is her first opportunity on MSU’s stage. Her play, titled “A Case of Mistaken Identity,” is a shade lighter than La Foe’s “April” and deals with a woman being mistaken for someone else by a male visitor who is looking for wealth in an old house.
“A Case of Mistaken Identity” features eight roles of varying sizes, making it the largest cast of the showcase. Although size might have caused her difficulty, Tabb seems to enjoy the challenge.
“The cast is my favorite part (of directing),” she said with a smile. “It’s because they bring their own ideas to the table,” she added with another grin. “Stuff I haven’t even thought of.”
Unlike Tabb, Laranda Moffett is no stranger to stage or competition. She has appeared on stage numerous times in the last two years, from “The Man Who Came To Dinner” (where she received an Irene Ryan acting award nomination) to last semester’s “The Classics Professor.” Moffett was also last year’s Miss MSU, and she made a good showing at the Miss Mississippi pageant to boot. Directing a one-act is just another step for her.
“Laranda is a fantastic director and has been very fun to work with,” Andrew McCaskill, who plays Willard in Moffett’s play “EZ Snooz Motel,” said. “These past three weeks have been very enjoyable.”
“EZ Snooz Motel” is a comedy of quick interactions between stereotypes (McCaskill sums his character up as a “sex fiend”) at, yes, a local motel.
Another MSU theatre veteran makes his directing debut the same night. Gabe Smith, recognizable for his roles in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “The Man Who Came To Dinner” and “The Classics Professor,” as well as a collection of previous student-directed one-acts, and most recently, SCT’s “Bus Stop,” will see his “How Gertrude Stormed the Philosopher’s Club” close out the Friday night collection.
“It’s a very different play, very silly,” Smith said. “I liked the fact that it was a very absurdist comedy and that it really makes fun of modern life.”
Smith said he read a lot of plays before he found “Gertrude,” a story of two men who fancy themselves philosophers and the woman who turns their isolated world on its side. When he stumbled across it, it stuck.
“It was as if, when I read them (the plays), I was focused on the amount of people or set or technical difficulties,” Smith says. “(‘Gertrude’) was the first show that grabbed my attention and kept it.” “Gertrude” promises to be an attention-grabbing play. It features language, violence, chair humping, and a good deal more; it is very much for mature audiences.
Also on the line-up is “Midnight Moonlight Wedding Chapel,” directed by Jonathan Reeves and starring Kendrick Vivians, Amanda Lopez, Jake Stoy, Matt Webb, Jessi Moore and Kristen Hall.
The Student Showcase runs Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. at the McComas Hall lab theatre. Tickets are $5 for students, faculty and senior citizens and $10 for the general public. Seating is extremely limited and reservations are recommended. Call 325-7951 for more information and tickets.
*Editor’s note: This article was written by Marcus Daniels, Amanda Myers and Matthew Webb