Senior One Acts Debut Tonight

Senior-directed one-acts premiere tonight featuring Help Desk, Totally Red, Every Novel You Read in High School and Us and Them.

Media by MTC

Senior-directed one-acts premiere tonight featuring Help Desk, Totally Red, Every Novel You Read in High School and Us and Them.

Between the Marquette Theater Company’s musical in the fall and play in the spring, seniors produce One Acts.

“A one act is just a short play,” Rebecca Blindauer, theater teacher, said. “Usually when you go to see a show, there’s two acts with an intermission in between.”

A one act is “meant to be performed all in one sitting” without an intermission. “It is literally one act,” Blindauer said.

Blindauer began facilitating one acts seven years ago, when she saw an excess of students wanting to pursue theater.

The One Acts are 100% student produced, which not only provides numerous new learning experiences, but also gives, “so many more on stage acting experiences,” Blindauer said.

Because the One Acts are fully student produced, they have student directors. Maddie Bowen was one of the four seniors whose one act pitch was chosen to be showcased.

A one act is just a short play. Usually when you go to see a show, there’s two acts with an intermission in between.

— Rebecca Blindauer

After picking a show and figuring out the cost, she then made a list of props, costumes, lighting cues and sound cues.

“I have to block every scene in the show and make sure that my actors know what character they’re playing, the motivation behind their movements,” Bowen said. “I need to create a set, and then I just have to piece it all together.”

Bowen said her experience directing has improved her character and leadership skills.

“I learned how to divy up the work between my stage manager and all the other heads of crews,” she said. “It taught me more responsibility and how to delegate work so that I’m not doing it all myself.”

She will be directing, “Totally Red,” by Dinah Toups, a spinoff of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Sophomore Stephan Bosnjak was selected to play the role of the big bad wolf.

“I’m out there, messing with Little Red Riding Hood,” he said.

Like many other actors, Bosnjak has acted in other school shows but never in the One Acts.

A one act is a perfect place to really introduce yourself to acting. If you want something that’s not as time consuming as the regular school plays, you should definitely do a one act.

— Stephan Bosnjak

“I was interested in acting in a One Act because I thought it would be really fun having the director be around my age and be one of my actual fiends, which is a pretty cool dynamic,” Bosnjak said. “It’s a really nice way to have something a little more casual than the school plays, but still be involved in acting, and just having a way to express yourself, and just something to take your mind off of your stresses,” he said.

He recommends auditioning for a One Act to anyone new to the theater world.

“A one act is a perfect place to really introduce yourself to acting,” he said. “If you want something that’s not as time consuming as the regular school plays, you should definitely do a one act.”

“Totally Red,” “Help Desk,” “Every Novel You Read in High School in 25 Minutes or Less” and “Us and Them” will be shown in the Theater at 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, and Friday, Feb. 3. Tickets are available for $5 at the door.