On April 25 at 7:30 p.m., multiple performances of Student Directed Plays took place in the jam-packed black box theater at the Blake Upper School. Between plays on reality TV, young teen love, the art of playwriting, parenting, and stories versus truth, the plays had a wide variety of theatrical genres.

Jonah Sandy ’14, a director of his original script, explains the student-directed process. It involves getting “scripts approved by Diane Landis before auditions, and then if there are problems with language or content or length we are able to work with her to make cuts or revisions to the script” he says.

Isaac Frans ’15, another director of his own play, clarifies auditions. “There’s one big audition night and everybody reads for all the plays, and then afterwards the directors have to argue/choose who gets who.” Although there are guidelines and help from Landis, the theater teacher, “it’s really up to the directors and how you want to do, it so it’s actually pretty cool!” notes Frans.

The freedom that student directed plays allow is a great opportunity for directors as well as actors. Frans mentions, “I had five kids come up to me and say ‘awh I mean I want to do it but I’ve never acted before. But hey, just come try out. I mean, it’s like a perfect time to do stuff.”

Kelly Brakken ’17 speaks on her last-minute audition experience. “I’m very glad I auditioned,” she says. “it was a last-minute (as in five minutes until audition started) decision, and I really enjoyed it.”

Brakken had a great experience and would “encourage everyone to audition for Student Directed Plays at least once in their time at Blake.”