Black box theater student directors; Running the show out of the spotlight

Charlotte McElwain, Social Media Coordinator

As a final project in Drama III, thespians are expected to be a part of one of the black box theater productions; whether it is stage crew, tech crew, costume design, or playing a character in the spotlight, all students have the opportunity to dabble in some aspect of theater.

 Unlike main stage productions done at NH under the direction of drama teacher Mrs. Nancy Green, these black shows are directed entirely by students.  

  After almost a whole semester of practicing and learning different roles in theater production and acting techniques, Green allows her students to fully put on their own play. The directors are students in Green’s drama class.

  Currently, senior Alyssa Marks it is directing a play alongside of her co-director Sam Fielder. The two seniors are in charge of making sure the Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon goes out with no kinks. Both commented that  being seniors and having the responsibility of directing a play can be difficult. ”It’s kinda hard when you’re directing people that are your age… I am the age as the rest of the cast and crew and I think it’s hard for them to take can constructive criticism because we all are the same age,” expressed Marks.

    As both the seniors are thespians, they are rather knowledgeable on how to successfully pull off plays; between ordering costumes, going over lines, or rehearsing with their whole cast. “Before we even got assigned the script, Sam and I made a plan because we knew we wanted to be the directors,” remarked Marks. The duo said was the plan was to know how to get all the costumes together, when to schedule dates for when the whole cast needed to get together to rehearse, how to organize  props, and preparing to set up a system so they could properly communicate with one another and the cast.

    With show dates coming up soon, the directors, cast and the crew of each plays are starting to put the finishing touches on the plays.

    Everyone should come out and support the drama department on Thursday, January 17th for the Westing Games at 7pm and on Friday, january 18th for Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon which is also at 7pm.