Creative Control Shows Off the Creativity of Students
On the evenings of March 31st and April 1st Theater Saint Thomas put on a production titled Creative Control. A series of 8 short plays, each directed by a student director involved in the directing course.
Each play was thematically different and brought something new to the table. Some works left the audience in tears, others left them laughing, and some left the viewers in a stunned silence.
Prior to the performance the actors rushed around to make sure everything was ready, some reread their lines just to be sure, others quickly applied stage makeup in order to accentuate features in the stage lighting.
While each play was great and met with much praise from the audience, there were a few specific ones that stood out among the rest.
The second play, What’s the META? directed by Valeria Torres was brought to life by the performances of its two leads: Drew Hudson and Gabrielle Campbell. While a few audience members noted that the play’s writing was subpar, it was lifted up by the incredibly animated movements of its actors, who are both highly experienced in stage acting.
The third play Last Drinks, directed by Hannah Rudderham and starring Kenzie Acheson and Joseph Debly was a startling shift in tone. Replacing the slapstick and wit of the previous two with a darker, bleaker sense of humor. The play follows a depressed man who seemingly cannot die no matter how hard he tries, and a woman who is haunted by the fact that all of her romantic interests have died young. The use of music as well as the sarcastic dialogue between the characters left the audience laughing out loud for almost the play’s entire run.
The fifth play Say the Words was easily the most abrasive and satirical play of the bunch. The play was a feminist satire of how men view feminist women. It was over exaggerated and a good chunk of it was improvised by the actors, but the mania on stage was met with frantic applauds and laugh-crying from audience members.
Sure Thing, the seventh play was, much like the previous plays a comedy, however it was greatly benefitted by a science fiction twist. Directed by John Harley, the play follows two perfect strangers meeting at a cafe and falling in love, however each time one of the two makes a mistake, the on stage waiter rings a bell and turns back the clock to create a different timeline. The constant what ifs of the story let the actors on stage have fun as they delved into all the different facets of the characters and occasionally improvised their own timelines.
The final play White Lead left the audience in silence following its end. The melancholic, but all too human story following the lives of a family drifted apart was helped by its biting, and deeply honest writing and the incredible performances by its stars. As the curtains closed it received a standing ovation by a captivated crowd.
Creative Control showed its viewers that its student directors, no matter how inexperienced, are still capable of telling enthralling stories that capture the attention of an entire audience, taking them on a journey they not have expected to go on, but are grateful for nonetheless.
