As the director of ROIAL Players — a student-run creative arts group — Haley Carr sat flipping through plays in the middle of an aisle in a Barnes & Noble store, she couldn’t decide what would be best for her theater group.
But then finally, after what had been weeks of searching, she found “Audience.”
“I fell in love with it,” she said. “It’s short, classy and funny — exactly what we like in ROIAL.”
This semester, the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities junior directed “Audience,” by Michael Frayn, for the first show of the school year performed by ROIAL Players.
“Audience,” which opened 9 p.m. Thursday at the RCAH Theatre in Snyder and Phillips halls, is a one-act play following the stories of 13 characters who are themselves audience members — the scenery is composed of rows of seats on the stage that put both audiences face-to-face.
The show also will be performed 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, as well as 1 p.m. Sunday.
The comedy depicts the intertwining stories of the characters as they interact in the crowd — on dates, having affairs or meeting new potential love interests. Meanwhile, “Audience” pokes fun at the faux pas audience members commit that prevent them from actually being able to watch and appreciate a play, such as coughing loudly or walking around the theater at inappropriate times.
Dakota Riehl, a Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman who plays Wendy in the show, said the play appeals to the everyday occurrences found in many college students’ lives.
“You see a lot of the drama,” she said. “I think it’s very relative to the college life.”
Carr said although the playwright didn’t offer much direction, the cast was able to create their own stage personalities.
“When you first read (the play), there’s not a whole lot of character descriptions,” she said. “As we rehearsed for over a month and a half, I’ve seen so many characters develop.”
As a previous member of ROIAL Players, MSU alumnus Chris Stauffer said he plans to be in the paying audience at “Audience.”
“A lot of people who graduate come back to see the shows,” he said. “You have a whole bunch of people who have a passion for theater, (so their shows) are a great thing to see.”
Carr said working on a show without adult leadership can be difficult at times, but the result of a successful production makes all the effort and long nights worthwhile.
“It’s a lot of responsibility because our group is entirely student-run, so trying to put everything together — it can be challenging,” she said. “But it’s so fun, and it’s so rewarding.”
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