Soon the doors of South’s auditorium will be open once again for the upcoming annual student production of One Act plays. Unlike other plays, these shows only have one act, which makes it quite short when looking at the big picture, but nonetheless capable of giving plenty of entertainment to its audience.

But, as student production suggests, there are difficulties not faced yet by the students that fill the roles of directors. Mary Reinman ‘17, Luke Bove ‘17, Jerome Manning ‘17 and Abbey Schuetze ‘17 are 2017’s student directors for the One Acts. Before the real production had begun, they were already facing serious issues.

“As a director, not knowing how to cast your roles is your biggest challenge but also your biggest reward,” Meaghan Dunham, producer and advisor to the South One Acts, said. “You can help a young person see their potential role. It’s your job as a director to envision their skillset, along with what you want, and make those matches to roles.”

Dunham also said that it’s not a skillset, it’s an art to be able to see potential and put that in the correct role with the perfect fit and to be able to put that with all the other ones.

“I’ve always had such a passion for acting; it’s my favorite thing,” Reinman said. “I’ve never had a way to express what I wanted to see on stage. I’ve always taken direction and never given it. I was so excited when I was chosen — I get to see my creation come to life on stage.”

The auditions occurred over two days with large turnouts of students hopeful for a role in the plays. And with so many showing up, another problem rose for the directors to take on.

“I was worried about the four of us getting good casts for each of our plays,” Schuetze said. “We didn’t want to put the same people into every role. I think we did a really good job helping each other out and trying to cast people.”

The directors and actors of One Acts, with hopes high and eyes forward, seem excited to see what comes from this opportunistic project of theirs.

Gallery • 15 Photos

Picture by Griffin Jones '18