Scoot over, Scorsese. Step back, Spielberg.
A wave of directors, courtesy of Allen Community College’s theater department, is about to hit the big time.
A quintet of directors will each present a series of plays — humorous all — for “ACC’s Student-Directed One-Acts,” which opens Thursday at the college theater.
Sophomores Lauren Perez-Engle, Miguel Roberts, Rachel Mentzer, Jason Davis and Jacob Cooper, who normally are the on-stage performers, have been working feverishly to get their productions ready for the public.
Davis, a Rossville High School graduate, will present “Family 2.0” by Walter Wykes.
“It’s kind of a farce,” Davis explains. “It starts out with a nuclear family, and this guy comes in and tries to replace the husband by wooing his wife and getting on good terms with the kids.”
The play, starring Tori Whalen, Nicholas Watson, Aaron Huskey, Ashley Holloran and Layne Gonzalez, carried several appealing elements, Davis explained.
“I told Tony (Piazza) I wanted to do something raunchy, something funny,” Davis said. “He gave me a couple of options and I picked this one. It should appeal to everyone.”
The rehearsal process, which hit high gear a few weeks ago, has been a challenge at times. For one reason or another, he had to replace several cast members a little more than a week into rehearsals.
“I expected challenges, but everybody’s pulled through,” he said. “When we get together, we make a lot of progress.”
COOPER, an Iola High School graduate, will serve up “Dungeons and Dragons” by Kyle John Schmidt.
The one-act follows the story of four kids in the midst of a spirited Dungeons and Dragons fantasy game.
One of the actors, a “dungeon master” begins telling a story involving his other friends.
The tale repeatedly morphs between fantasy and reality, Cooper explained.
“I like Dungeons and Dragons, and thought it’d be a neat story,” Cooper said. “Of my four actors (Tim Roloff, Daniesha Stoner, Taylor McAvoy and Katie Terhune), only a couple of them knew much about it.”
