The sound of laughter can be heard from inside the doors. As the door opens, the laughter and chatter from eight people becomes louder. The air is thicker in the room and the overhead lights are turned on above the rows of blue seats surrounded by the black walls and floor. It’s the beginning of a regular routine for these students as they prepare a performance together.
A group of carefully selected students work and bring together a student-produced play, The Actor’s Nightmare, to be presented during the first week of December. Rehearsals are every Monday through Friday, 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. Faculty are only involved by advising students with certain questions they may have. Some faculty are brought in to work with the students on certain techniques, like stage-fighting, or just to provide feedback to the students.
Eva Forman, a 21 year old senior Theatre and Education major, was offered the position of director for the production. The position of director is obtained by submitting an application and résumé to a board for the position and being interviewed. Forman has previously directed a student-led play, The Laramie Project. This play was produced last year at the same time. Forman says the experience this year has been more organized and less stressful. “In the past, it [past student production] wasn’t disorganized, it was just informal…We’ve always had student-run productions about two a year. We have the student underground, which is like a play, and then we have the Zero to Sixty One Act Play Festival, which is in coordination with the English department; it’s a playwriting competition as well and international,” says Forman.
The Actor’s Nightmare is a series of plays within a play and a dark comedy centralized on a man who finds himself thrown into scenes of different plays in which he doesn’t know any of the lines. The play follows him as he fumbles through different scenes and struggles to create lines. The play allows the students to somewhat relate to the storyline itself. “I’ve had this nightmare. Anyone who’s acted has had this nightmare,” says Forman.
Students audition for parts and are chosen by Forman. The cast is relatively small with only five actors and actresses. Careese Dyke, Lorin Turner and Caitlin Mazura are three of the performers cast in the play. All are Theatre majors with different concentrations.
Dyke and Turner are both 19 year old sophomores at Longwood. Dyke says this is the first year she has been cast in Longwood productions, Evil Dead: The Musical and The Actor’s Nightmare. When asked if there was any difference between the process of a faculty-led play versus a student-led play, she said, “It’s pretty much the same. She’s [Forman] very professional about it and she’s really fun, and she coordinates these activities with us as well as teaches us how to play our characters.”.
Turner is currently taking 18 credits and has slightly struggled with the workload and the frequent rehearsals. “For me, it can get really frustrating, especially right here at the end of the semester when everything is due…at the same time, it teaches you to truly have good time management…It forces you to be on top of things,” says Turner.
Mazura is on a slightly different track than Dyke and Turner. Mazura is a 20 year old junior and is only taking 12-14 credits per semester at Longwood since she transferred in with a substantial amount of credits. The small class load has allowed Mazura to be a little more relaxed than the rest of her fellow cast members. Mazura was also in the student-run production last year. “With this one it’s a lot more…we still need the same amount of energy, but just the atmosphere is a lot more relaxed,” says Mazura.
Rehearsal consists of an exercise, activity and a run-through. Forman also works with each actor individually or in pairs, or stops rehearsal to address any issues with blocking or line delivery. The rehearsal’s atmosphere is certainly relaxed. The students are comfortable with each other, while still maintaining a sense of professionalism. Their confidence and enjoyment of the process is evident through their whole rehearsal.
Performances run Dec. 4, 5 and 6 at 7 P.M. and Dec. 7 at 3 P.M. If you would like to purchase tickets to The Actor’s Nightmare, visit the box office or call (434) 395-2392.
