SHANNON HOUGHTON
For The State News
Mechanical engineering freshman Nathan Kroll had no acting experience until being cast in the one-act play, “Bringing it all Home,” this semester.
“I like being able to act out somebody I don’t even know and make a character how I want it to be,” he said.
A nontheater major, Kroll is one of many students who will have some time on stage in the Department of Theatre’s one-act play festival later this month.
Put together by students taking Theatre 341, Beginning Play Directing, the festival is held the weekend before exams as the class’s final project.
Auditions for the plays first became open to the entire university last semester, bringing in nontheater majors like Kroll.
Mary Job, an adjunct theater instructor who teaches the class, said going through an auditioning process is valuable for the student directors.
“Since many are theater majors, they’ve dealt with a lot of auditioning but not the process itself,” she said. “People who went through auditioning instead of just recruiting had actors who were more committed to the process.”
English sophomore Anne Bresler, who acted in the festival in the fall and will again this semester, participated in theater extensively in high school.
“I thought that since I wasn’t majoring in theater, I wouldn’t be able to act at Michigan State,” she said. “It’s great that nonmajors have opportunities too.”
Many student actors say there are advantages to working on the one-act festival.
“Everyone pitches in,” Bresler said. “We get our own costumes, collect our props, and have more opportunities for input than we would in any other kind of play.”
The directors who are leading the process are excited about the plays as well.
Theater junior Anna Mayle said directing the play, “The Man Who Turned Into a Stick,” has been a fun experience for her and her actors.
“I can’t wait until it’s done and I can see what I’ve made,” she said.
The nine plays will be performed beginning at 7 p.m. on April 26 and 27 in 49 Auditorium. Admission is free.
