wednesday, may 16, 2012
The
Evergreen
arts
9
Work Hard. Play Hard. Seniors Cole Sadler and Russell Grindstaff let loose their creativity in this spring’s student productions.
I
Photos by Jocelyn Lee
f one student play is good, then, following the same logic, two student plays should prove twice as entertaining. This year, seniors Russell Grindstaff and Cole Sadler will each write and direct their own one-act. Cole said that his play, titled “Consider the Nerd, Consider the Tool,” was inspired by the movie My Dinner with Andre, which focuses on the dinner conversation between two people who share their lives over the course of a meal and wind up discussing themes of life and authenticity. In Cole’s play, two students — senior Alex Wallace (played by Cole) and sophomore Sam Naxon (played by sophomore Joel Hashop) — recount the expectations and realities of their high school experiences. “Basically, the senior sees parts of himself in the sophomore and wants to teach him how to get by in high school, but the sophomore has different thoughts,” said Joel. According to Cole, his play is “a model of how one might approach high school while they are in it” and “touches on how painful [high school] can be, but also the joys of being around this age.” For to Cole, the nerd and the tool represent two approaches to high school. “As the title implies, I want the audience to consider both sides of the argument and hopefully discuss amongst themselves how incorrect or correct each approach is,” said Cole. Cole incorporates comedic elements to “liven [his play] up a bit,” but it is essentially serious subject matter. Compared to Cole’s one-act, Russell’s play is pure comedy, or a “postmodern-surrealist-neo-Confucian masterpiece,” as he calls it. Russell refused to answer truthfully when asked about the plot or any details of his play. “My play, A Streetcat Named Desire, is a coming-ofage story about a kitten named Cattle who wants to be a cow, because ‘cat’ is part of the word ‘Cattle,’ ” Russell said, ad-libbing on the spot. “Then the cat grows up and realizes it doesn’t want to be a cow, it just wants to be a cat.” He then proceeded to pass off the plots of movies Titanic, Good Will Hunting, Mrs. Doubtfire, The Hulk, and The Smurfs as the plot of his play. Jokes aside, Russell said he wants to keep his play, which he has been working on since the beginning of last summer, “a surprise” and as funny as possible. He instructed the cast — which includes lead actors
senior Will Kraus, junior Kyle Weinreb, and sophomore Ricky McMurray — to keep the details secret. All interviewed cast members declined to comment. Only after repeated interviews would Russell confirm the actual title of the play, “Mad,” and the basic plot: “There’s a guy who goes into an insane asylum, and his doctor is really evil.” As part of the student play-production process, Cole and Russell lead and direct their respective casts and crews, with Upper School Theater Director Synthia Rogers and Technical Theater Director Michael Orman taking advisory roles. The casts meet and rehearse during fifth and sixth period Theater Production class. In contrast, the Fall Drama and Spring Musical rehearsals took place after school. In the past, this has meant that the senior director had to lead and coordinate between two classes and a split cast. According to Mrs. Rogers, this was one of the main reasons there are now two student plays. Each senior can lead his own class. Looking to next year, Mrs. Rogers said there will be at least two student plays again. “People who are selected to write it are people who have been in the theater class for several years and have expressed interest in writing and directing,” said Mrs. Rogers. For Cole and Russell, all aspects of theater — writing, directing, and acting — are not just interests, but passions that they plan to pursue after graduation. Cole will study at Chapman University in Orange, California. “I absolutely plan on continuing writing. As for plays, that’s yet to be determined and my future career path is uncertain,” Cole said. “As I tell my friends, I’m double majoring in Creative Writing and insurance fraud scams, so at least I have a viable career-path back-up.” Russell will study at the Rita & Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He said he wants to write screenplays or for TV shows. According to Mrs. Rogers, this is the goal of the student play: to show students what it’s like on the other side of the stage, and to give them a chance to become better actors as well as writers and directors. “Mad” and “Consider the Nerd, Consider the Tool” will play on Friday, May 18 following Jazz Night, at 8:15 p.m. in the Zale-Fields Theater. Story by Anton Yu
BY THE BOOK: Senior Emitom Hillsman goes over her lines while Mrs. Rogers sits in on one of Cole’s fifth period rehearsals. With two playwrights this year, Cole and Russell each have their own class to direct.
THE MENTOR: Cole rehearses with sophomore co-star Joel Hashop. Cole’s play, “Consider the Nerd, Consider the Tool,” takes a contemplative spin on the classic, comedic high school play.