Being an actor is fun. So is being a director.
But doing both simultaneously can be a bit maddening, admits Judd Wiltse.
“There’s nothing more enlightening and absolutely infuriating than to work with an actor who’s doing something you did way back when,” said Wiltse, a third-year drama student at Allen Community College.
Suppose an actor misses a cue, flubs a line, or doesn’t quite comprehend what the director wants.
“So you yell at them, and then you see them pull back in the exact same way you used to,” Wiltse said.
At the same time, it’s rewarding when students suddenly understand, and think, “Ohhhhh, that’s why they yell at me,” he said.
Wiltse is one of six ACC students — Julius Hodges, Morgan Jett, Carolyn Appleton, Kathryn Woodruff and Austin Wickwire are the others — who will get to shine off stage next week when Allen brings back its night of student-directed one-acts.
The skits offer a bit of everything, from a satirical look at cop shows, a dinner with gangsters, a pair of weary puppet masters, and even a sexual harassment seminar for Nordic Vikings.
The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. next Thursday through Saturday at the College Theatre. Tickets will sell at the door for $5 apiece. Allen students are admitted free of charge.
“The Presentation,” by Lia Romeo
Directed by Julius Hodges.
A trio of Vikings, portrayed by Bryce Atzbach, Jake Anderson and Morgan Jett, are ordered to attend a sexual harassment seminar led by Illiana Gallardo.
As one might expect, it doesn’t go very well.
“They’re just not quite getting it; not quite understanding,” Hodges explained.
The story’s absurd humor stood out to Hodges in selecting the production.
“I thought it was hilarious, a nice light-hearted play,” he said. “And it has a pretty good resolution.”
In setting his cast, Hodges gave the hopefuls a single direction.
