The Trojan Players are preparing for their next production. It’s the annual Senior Directed Play. This year, the Senior Directors are Taylor Peterson-Burke and Alec Kartz. They are presenting Neil Simon’s first play, “Come Blow Your Horn.” The cast has been decided and practices have begun.
The Senior Directed Play is very important to those in theater. Being chosen as a Senior Director is a great honor and a great responsibility as they have the same responsibilities as a traditional director. They choose a play; as Peterson- Burke said, “We have to read through a zillion shows,” get the rights to the show, schedule and hold auditions, pick a cast, and schedule and run rehearsals. “The director is more like a mentor to us. We go to him when we have questions,” said Kartz. They also get to pick the next year’s Senior Directors.
To become a senior director, you must fill out an extensive form about your theater experiences and why you want to be a Senior Director. Then you have an interview with the current Senior Directors. After that, applicants must wait until the Illiums for the final announcement.
The directors are both excited and nervous for the play. “I think that I will be more nervous as the show approaches, but now I am mostly excited,” said Kartz. He and Peterson-Burke said that they were slightly worried about getting their vision across, but are sure that everything will work out if they pick the right cast. The two directors seem to work well together. They both have a great love of theater and have been involved in it for many years here at West. Alec’s brother was a senior director a few years ago and he is keeping on with the tradition.
There is a lot of work to be done before performances begin on February tenth. It is sure to be an experience that the cast, crew, and directors will never forget.
