The 2012 One-Act Plays: Author! Author! Each year English Department Chair Dianne Mahony offers students a unique opportunity to write and direct their own one-act plays for performances in the Lasdon Theater. This spring, the original works of seniors Nicholas Maluf and Constance Brimelow debuted in the Walker Center for the Arts.
Standardized
What I Want
There is nothing more exhilarating in life than slipping into an audience and watching a performance of a play you’ve meticulously crafted and directed from a wayward vision months and months ago. In that moment, as you blend into the other unsuspecting witnesses to a story, you are given a clear sight of the transformation that has occurred; from idea to script to rehearsal to show. This has been a transformation where I was at the root of it all. Directing my own play has given me the opportunity to find something I really enjoy and in which I thrive—without this experience and my playwriting class, I would have never found this path which I intend to pursue in college and possibly beyond. Writing and directing have tested my ability as a storyteller and allowed me grow as well—both in forging a script from an idea and then manipulating it to create a living-breathing thing. This opportunity has been a gift that Harvey has given me, and I couldn’t imagine any of this without Mrs. Mahony’s influence and guidance. Told through interior monologues of five teenagers, Standardized depicts the crumbling of self to teens who take the SATs. I’d like to thank my cast, Kayte Crum, Annalise Cepero, Patrick Taylor, Charlotte Wittmann, Chinasa Nwokocha, and Brendan Kneitz. I love all my actors. I learned a lot from them—what works and what doesn’t in the transformation of characters to real kids.
Although I’ve been acting in the “One-Act Plays” for three years, I have to say that directing is a whole different monster. It is thrilling. It is challenging, and it’s more than a little scary. As a director, especially one directing his own work, you know everything reflects on you, and with that in mind, it is very easy to become scared of the performances. But in the end, it’s definitely worth it. To watch it succeed was easily one of the most rewarding things I have done, and the experience is definitely, absolutely, amazing. Despite the entire nerve-wracking experience, the end result filled me with great excitement and happiness. I’d like to thank the actors and crew for all they did to help: Patrick Taylor, Samantha Rettie, Jabea Kisob, Brendan Kneitz, and Rory Knox, my production stage manager, Olivia Bady, my rehearsal stage manager, Shavanna Clarke, and my running crew, Natalia St. Lawrence, Olivia Bady, Vanessa Mackiewicz, and Patrick Taylor.
by Constance Brimelow
by Nicholas Maluf
The Harvey School 23