By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Claire Wells-Jensen is trying to block a quartet of actors on the stage of the Bowling Green Performing Arts Center.
The arrangement of actors just doesn’t seem to be coming together quite like she and co-director Lily Krueger envisioned.
“This is the most stressful thing I’ve ever done,” she says.
Maybe as frustrating as a mom trying to hustle a teenage daughter off to school. Maybe as frustrating as herding cats… on the internet.
From left, Anne Weaver, Erik Schempf and Luke Kobylski in “The Internet is Distract – Oh Look A Kitten!”
Wells-Jensen and Krueger are directing “The Internet is Distract – Oh Look A Kitten!” That’s one of four one-act plays on the bill Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 7 p.m. at the Bowling Green Performing Arts Center. The school’s Improv Troupe will also perform. Tickets are $8 and $6 for students and senior citizens. Seniors with a Bobcat Pass get in free.
Jo Beth Gonzalez, the advisor for the Drama Club, said the program of one-act plays gives students a chance assume the director’s role.
“Kids think directing is easy until they do it. They learn so much,” she said.
Certainly that was the case for Krueger and Wells-Jensen.
“It was not what I expected,” Krueger said. “We’ve been in one acts directed by students, and you think you know what they’re going through, but it completely different.”
The responsibility for the play from selection to staging falls on their shoulders. Wells-Jensen and Krueger realized their young cast needed a little more help concentrating so they did four focus exercises before each rehearsal.
The other plays on the bill are:
- “Windmills and Millstones” by Louise Wade, directed by Meagan Worthy, a thought-provoking play about characters whose playwright has abandoned them.
- “Action News: Now With 10% More Action” by Jonathan Rand, directed by Rachel Amburgey, a comedy that spoofs local TV news.
- “Life as a Techie or Something Like It” by Christopher Fleitas, directed by Natalie Avery and Jessica Wilson, a comedy in which a student must decide which faction to belong to – the theatre techies or the actors – of a hilariously bad high school musical.
Gonzalez said students must make a proposal explaining why they want to direct and what script they’ve chosen.
She said she can give them some guidance as far as scripts, and they see some at the annual state thespian conference. But they often go online to find plays. “They’re sleuths,” the drama teacher said.
“This is just a play that really spoke to us,” Wells-Jensen said. “It’s very relatable.”
In Ian McWethy’s comedy, a teenager is trying to complete her paper on “The Great Gatsby” while wrestling with all the distractions of the internet.
“We have definitely done papers in the last minutes before school,” Krueger said.
Gonzalez then reviews the plays for appropriateness. Sometimes students select material that they best wait until college to deal with. Other than that, she said, takes a supporting role. She’s around for consultation, but she does watch the plays until a week before production. “I’m going to be your third eye,” she tells them, because when she directs “I need a third eye.”
With four different casts and crews, the one-acts draw in a large number of students, some of whom are new to the Drama Club, Gonzalez said. Some have experience with the Horizon Youth Theatre. Some are on the stage for the first time.
Building relationships among students is one of the benefits of school drama, she said.
She said audiences will “be amazed what the kids have done on their own.”
This comes at a time in the school calendar when many are preparing for the solo and ensemble festival. And “then we jump into ‘Shrek,’” Gonzalez said, referring to the school’s spring musical.
Moe Kellow is the production’s stage manager.
Actors are: Jared Bechstein, Ethan Brown, Megan Carmen, Megan Clifford, Austin Cook, Nova Cullison, Kaitlyn Dorman, Megan Eddington, Jake Fausnaugh, Kameron Frankart, Chris Fyfe, Kat Griffith, Sophi Hachtel, Devon Jackson, Kat Knoell, Luke Kobylski, Thomas Long, Keanu McClellan, Micah McKanna, Michael Martin, Narnia Rieske, Jessica Miller , Lily Parker, Alexis Reinbolt, Alexis Roehl, Erik Schempf, Brylie Short, Olivia Strang, Bob Walters, Anne Weaver, Liz Webb, and Frances Zengel.
Alexis Reinbolt and Elaine Hudson are this year’s Improv Troupe leaders. Members of the Improv Troupe are Rachel Amburgey, Megan Clifford, Jake Fausnaugh, Devon Jackson, Charlotte Perez, Martin Simon, Olivia Strang, Anne Weaver, Liz Webb, and Meagan Worthy.
Ryan Albrecht is the technical director for the Performing Arts Center.
